Twitter taught Microsoft’s AI chatbot to be a racist asshole in less than a day

It took less than 24 hours for Twitter to corrupt an innocent AI chatbot. Yesterday, Microsoft unveiled Tay — a Twitter bot that the company described as an experiment in "conversational understanding." The more you chat with Tay, said Microsoft, the smarter it gets, learning to engage people through "casual and playful conversation."

Unfortunately, the conversations didn't stay playful for long. Pretty soon after Tay launched, people starting tweeting the bot with all sorts of misogynistic, racist, and Donald Trumpist remarks. And Tay — being essentially a robot parrot with an internet connection — started repeating these sentiments back to users, proving correct that old programming adage: flaming garbage pile in, flaming garbage pile...

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UK man arrested for posting anti-Muslim tweets after Brussels attacks

A man in the UK has been arrested on charges of inciting racial hatred on social media, after he tweeted about asking a Muslim woman to "explain" the terror attacks in Brussels. As The Guardian reports, London's Metropolitan Police on Wednesday arrested a 46-year-old man believed to be Matthew Doyle, a partner at a London PR agency.

Earlier Wednesday, Doyle tweeted: "I confronted a Muslim women [sic] yesterday in Croydon. I asked her to explain Brussels. She said "Nothing to do with me" a mealy mouthed reply." His comment was posted after bombings at the Brussels airport and at a metro station killed at least 31 people and wounded 300 others. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

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Imgur updates mobile apps to support iPad, 3D Touch, and Material Design

Imgur, the image sharing and hosting service, is shifting its focus from its desktop website to its suite of mobile apps, where the company is now seeing a majority of interactions. The transition began last year with the launch of its first iOS and Android apps, and continues today with the launch of Imgur's first dedicated iPad app. The company has also overhauled its existing mobile apps, adding 3D Touch support for iPhones and bringing Material Design to the Android version.

The site that began as a quick and easy way to upload an image and share it has already grown larger than Reddit, the social network it was designed to assist back in 2009. Now CEO and founder Alan Schaaf says it's trying to capitalize on the way people find the...

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