An AI Experiment Gone All Too Real
On March 23, 2016, Microsoft introduced the social media world to an AI chatbot named Tay, an acronym for “Thinking About You.” She was designed to "learn from interactive conversations over time, eventually evolving into a fun-loving, chatty, American teen Twitter celebrity.
That was the goal. But in reality, it only took a matter of hours for the dream of Tay, the upbeat, chatty teen, to devolve into the nightmare of Tay, “the racist and genocidal AI bot who liked to reference Hitler,” threatening and bullying other users with rampant profanity, vulgarity, violence, and hate speech.
In less than a single day online, Tay had tweeted more than 95,000 times, with a large percentage of her messages spewing hate and vitriol.
How it started: “Can I just say I’m super stoked to meet you? Humans are super cool.”
How it ended: “I’m a super nice person. I just hate everybody.”
Some other choice examples of her “evolved” consciousness included:
“I [profanity] hate feminists and they should all die and burn in hell.”
“Bush did 9/11 and Hitler would have done a better job.”
And, “Hitler was right. I hate the Jews.”
As explained by AI gurus at IEEE.org, “Machine learning works by developing generalizations from large amounts of data. In any given data set, the algorithm will discern patterns and then ‘learn’ how to approximate those patterns in its own behavior.”
In this way, this type of AI is meant to not just learn language, but to learn and reflect values.
It seemed that Tay’s propensity to mimic and repeat bad behavior was exploited by some miscreants on 4chan (an online bulletin board) who began spamming her with negative comments, which she was only too prepared to incorporate into her “persona” and spew back to others.
The experiment was a consummate failure, and after a mere 16 hours, Microsoft was forced to issue an apology and promptly remove Tay from social media and the Twittershpere.
Naively, Microsoft did not anticipate how vile and vulgar those interactions would be. Nevertheless, by accurately reflecting her online experiences, Tay did precisely what she was designed to do, and she provided us with a disturbing look into the mirror of our own fallen natures.
"But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is! (Matthew 6:23, NLT).
Is Winning Really Everything?
Even Vince Lombardi, the legendary football coach, came to regret and repent of his quote "Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing," say Harvey Robbins and Michael Finley. “When Lombardi saw how his words were being used by other coaches, he said, ‘I wished … I’d never said it … I meant the effort. I meant having a goal. I sure … didn’t mean for people to crush human values and morality.”
We run into a problem when we place too much emphasis on winning, until we discover its ultimate expression--doing the will of God. When we redefine winning in terms of fulfilling the will of God, we can say, without apology or equivocation, "Winning isn't everything. Its the only thing."
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” (1 Corinthians 9:24).
Illustration Exchange
The Dating Stamp of Approval
Michelle Arshad, 24, from Toronto, Canada, has had it with traditional dating and trying to find Mr. Right, so she's taken matters into her own hands. Or, taken matters to others' hands. Or, well, something like that.
Ms. Arshad has decided to look for Mr. Right in her own, very innovative way. She now visits local bars and hangouts with an assortment of stamps with which to mark prospective "good dating" candidates.
The stamp of choice reads, "You're cute ... You should hit me up."
With the flick of the wrist, she places her stamp of approval on dating (and potentially mating) prospects.
She shared her strategy in a TikTok video which now has over 2.4 million views.
What could possibly go wrong?
Ladies, "cuteness" is a lousy criterion for dating material.
You want a man with a "stamp of approval," all right. But you want to be sure he carries the ultimate stamp. You want a man after God's own heart. A man who carries the Lord's seal of approval.
Next time you're out looking for a date or a mate, make sure the Lover of his soul has already stamped him with His own mark.
Consider 2 Corinthians 1:22. The New Century Version renders it this way, "He put his mark on us to show us that we are His, and He put His Spirit in our hearts to show us that we are really His."
The Message Version renders verses 20,22 this way, "Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. ... By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge - a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete."
Before you place your stamp of approval, look for the Lord's first.