--- title: "Last Time Microsoft Released an AI, It Lost Control and Had to Kill It" description: "It's easy to forget that AI chatbots have been around for a long time — and that Microsoft's old one, Tay, is the literal blueprint for racist algorithms. " date: "2023-02-17" modified: "2023-02-17" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/microsoft-bing-tay-bigotry" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "bing" - "chatbots" - "microsoft" - "the digest" --- # Last Time Microsoft Released an AI, It Lost Control and Had to Kill It ![It's easy to forget that AI chatbots have been around for a long time — and that Microsoft's old one, Tay, is the literal blueprint for racist algorithms. ]() *\Image: Futurism\* ## Shake It Off With Microsoft's new Bing AI and other artificial intelligence software becoming the biggest news story of 2023 thus far, it's easy to forget that AI chatbots have been around for a long time — and that Microsoft's old one, Tay, is the [literal blueprint for out-of-control algorithms](). It was March 2016, back when Donald Trump's presidency still seemed impossible and the concept of a global pandemic causing society to shut down still felt like science fiction. Towards the end of that month, Microsoft unveiled "Tay," short for "thinking about you," as a youthfully-voiced Twitter chatbot under the handle @Tayandyou. The legend of Tay follows a now-familiar pattern and was indeed one of the archetypical examples of a company losing control of cutting-edge AI. Because the chatbot openly interacted with Twitter users, trolls were able to manipulate it into spewing bigotry at record speed. Just 16 hours after its release, Microsoft had to pull the plug on Tay, though her story lives on in infamy: https://twitter.com/geraldmellor/status/712880710328139776 ## Not Again Compared to the AI chatbots of today, Tay's tweets are basically cave paintings. But perhaps the biggest difference between Tay and Bing Chat — or Sydney, [depending on who you ask]() — the company's latest large language model that's already garnered scores of headlines over how bizarre its responses are, lies more in Microsoft's response than the technology's capabilities. To be clear, Bing/Sydney doesn't appear to have gone full Heil Hitler just yet, but in its week-long life, it's already been shown to [spit out lists of ethnic slurs](), [threaten users](), and [act all-around erratically](). It's not hard to imagine that if Microsoft wasn't so eager to dive into the AI marketplace, it would have kiboshed this AI too. For some reason, however, Bing is still live and still behaving [really, really strangely]() — and as bad as Tay became, at least she was euthanized swiftly. **More on bad AI:** [*Microsoft: It’s Your Fault Our AI Is Going Insane*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()