'Just a horny AI racist': Girt by CNET podcast 66
The FBI goes its own way, AI Tay goes cray-cray and an Aussie school uses Minecraft to combine learning with play.
We thought that the Apple vs. FBI court battle would be the one to watch, but it turns out that the FBI had a plan B all along. Rather than sit through the protracted case, the Department of Justice has withdrawn from its Apple attack and hired a third party to crack the protection on the iPhone belonging to the San Bernardino shooters. But that itself has some significant implications for Apple...
Depending on where you stand, Microsoft's AI teen Tay has either been a model student or should be packed off to reform school. Designed to learn the art of conversation from interactions with real people on Twitter, it took no time at all for the bot to start spouting astoundingly foul and racist language. She was rapidly taken offline before heading back into action with a "drug-fuelled" rant. So look out humanity: Not only are robots coming for your jobs, they're coming for your racist hate-speech about the people who took your jobs.
On a far nicer note, there's a school just a few hours up from Sydney that works with kids with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. After noticing how much the kids engaged with Minecraft, the school has turned the game into a teaching tool, complete with a textbook!
Finally, there's a new Fitbit in town and it's pretty great. The Alta might well be my new favourite fitness tracker, finally knocking the Jawbone Up2 off that lofty perch.
Podcast
Want to know more?
Chill Apple, the FBI has this sorted
- Apple could learn how the feds unlocked an iPhone
- Feds get data off terrorist's iPhone without Apple's help
- All the Apple vs FBI news
Tay talks like a true teen
- Thanks, Twitter. You turned Microsoft's AI teen into a horny racist
- Microsoft AI Tay wakes, has druggy Twitter meltdown, dozes again
- Microsoft CEO on crazy Tay AI: It was not up to the mark
Minecraft in schools
Fitbit Alta