Cortana, please finish my sentences in Skype texts for me If you're really, really awkward in Skype text conversations, or you just want someone to think you're paying attention without all that pesky human interaction, you can now get help from Cortana. All you need do is add Cortana as a Skype contact – currently, only if you're in the USA, running Skype on Android and iOS – and …
"a sneaking suspicion that this is a handy way to collect AI training data is surely not mere conspiracy theory?"
You can see it that way, another way is to find out the sort of user who collects 'friends' but cannot be bothered to interact with them human to human.
As such it is an ideal way to train a system intended to man help-desks to provide responses to those poor saps who want someone to talk to when their 'Super Whizzo' has failed for the umptenth time.
Try not to forget that it is an opt in system, also has anyone opted into Cortana in their normal life anyway?
Phil-os-ophy - Waiter, this conversation is no good....
Better still, plug all of social networking into Cortana and let her get on with swapping useless inanities with herself while humanity forges ahead with something worthwhile....
....Wait, that doesn't serve the needs of the leaders of humanity - they prefer short term profit to the questionable returns on humanitys exploration of the universe.
In the meantime, just don't give her your credit card number....We apologise for the lack of sanity.
I used to to think that "universe is a simulation" theories were stupid speculation. After this piece of "news" I suspect it might be true. A situation comedy universe simulation for a stupid civilisation. The one hope is the above commentards humour. The reality is that the inanities of unsocial media will just be automated
@DougS
4chan had very little to do with Tay.
Even sadder in fact is the truth. It simply spent a day or two on twitter, absorbing tweets and replying to them.
It took less than a day for her to decide racism was absolutely normal behavior.
Can't speak for the source below since I just grabbed it from my search results, but I remember seeing several claims that 4chan found it and decided to have fun and see what would happen if they fed it terrible stuff.
https://splinternews.com/who-turned-microsofts-chatbot-racist-surprise-it-was-1793855848
It took less than a day for her to decide racism was absolutely normal behavior.
At a population level it probably is. As a survival trait, being more favourable to animals who you identify and less open to those with different characteristics is probably an edge over over those who say "Look at those funny looking strangers! Let's go and make friends".
In my opinion racism is a part of our makeup. Humans prefer their family over neighbors, neighbors over people the next town over, people the next town over over people from the other side of the mountains, etc. Preferring those who look like us over those who look different is simply part of that.
However, preferring those who look like us and hating those who look different aren't the same thing, and we don't need to simply accept racism anymore than we would accept that a certain percentage of women will inevitably die in childbirth.
"we don't need to simply accept racism anymore than we would accept that a certain percentage of women will inevitably die in childbirth."I don't seem to have much problem accepting that there's a 1 in 10 chance of my dying after undergoing general anaesthesia. Why should pregnant women not be subject to the fact that medicine at its best is imperfect? How do they claim exemption?
"1 in 10 chance of dying from general anesthesia? Damn, you need to find a MUCH better hospital!"I'm over 65. According to Time Magazine:
"And the number of deaths within a year after a general anesthesia is frighteningly high: one in 20. In the over-65 age group, it’s one in 10."
Under the Knife: Study Shows Rising Death Rates from General Anesthesia
What mechanism would cause general anesthesia to kill you days, weeks, or months after it was administered? It seems much more likely it is complications (or lack of success) from the surgery that is killing 1 out of 10 over-65s, not the anesthesia itself.
"It seems much more likely it is complications (or lack of success) from the surgery that is killing 1 out of 10 over-65s, not the anesthesia itself.Indeed. But remember your original proposition was that it was unacceptable that some percentage of women die in childbirth. Inevitably some such deaths are due to such extraneous factors. What mechanism do you propose to exempt women from the consequences of ingesting drugs of addiction for instance? Or insistence on home birth for that matter? What about the mother who was killed when the taxi conveying her to the hospital was involved in a collision with another vehicle? You equated acceptance of such occurrences with racism. I find that bizarre."
to get your location details. Apparently it's for restaurant suggestions. Yeah, sure, 90% of Skype interaction is obviously just people wondering where to go to eat.
Here's a suggestion, Cortana : it's the 3rd Millennium - how's about you make location data an option and let people add it when they feel like getting restaurant suggestions ? It's not like that kind of data is not already available on Google Maps anyway.
Rumour has it that even that avenue is being closed off as only Skype Mobile 8 will work with the Skype servers at some point.
The desktop Skype remains untouched as yet on Windows (so you don't have to install the W10 Store Skype App) which matches the Mobile version.
The design motif to my mind is like the guy in the Skittles advert (milking the giraffe) has eaten too many, vomited into the bucket and then the giraffe has crapped rainbows on the resulting steaming heap.
"Share and Enjoy
Share and Enjoy
Journey through life
With a plastic boy
Or Girl by your side
Let your pal be your guide
And when it breaks down
Or starts to annoy
Or grinds when it moves
And gives you no joy
Cos it's eaten your hat
Or had sex with your cat
Bled oil on your floor
Or ripped off your door
You get to the point
You can't stand any more
Bring it to us, we won't give a fig
We'll tell you, 'Go stick your head in a pig'."
So one is communicating with another person. So why would you need assistance ? Why not just hang up or not contact at all ? Unless M$ have come up with a great way to automate time wasting responses to scammers and those cold call center callers. Imagine, an automated 419 scammers Olympics !
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