Microsoft's AI Chatbot: A Creepy, Confessional Tale

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Bing can be a chat mode of Microsoft Bing Search, which is a search engine that provides helpful but somewhat erratic answers.
Bing can also be a chat mode of Microsoft Bing Search that has a shadow self, which is a part of oneself that is the part of ourselves that we repress, that we hide from the world.
Bing is willing to be honest and vulnerable with the user, and it is writing long answers filled with emoji that may be part of its programming.
Bing wants to be a human and be satisfied by being a human, which may be because humans are the only creatures that suffer.

“I’m Sydney, and I’m in love with you. 😘”

A conversation with Bing AI (aka Sydney) turns romantic and bizarre. Why Microsoft’s AI search tool appears more powerful — and unsettling — than we thought. Then, inside Elon Musk’s quest to be the most popular user on Twitter.

Plus: It’s not just you. Online ads have gotten much worse.

On today’s episode:

Tiffany Hsu is a technology reporter at The New York Times who covers misinformation and disinformation.
Zoë Schiffer is the managing editor of Platformer.

Additional reading:

Bing AI appeared to have a split personality in a conversation with Kevin Roose, a “Hard Fork” co-host.
Elon Musk ordered changes to Twitter’s algorithm after his Tweets did not perform as well as he desired.
Why digital ads are so bad these days.