Microsoft imposed some Bing rule changes to prevent his artificial intelligence from getting out of control. In addition to limiting chat turns and daily queries, engineers implemented a policy that AI ends chats when user questions their feelings. A report of Bloomberg mentions an interaction where the journalist asked the chatbot how it felt and got an unexpected response.
According to the medium Bing adjusted its rules so that users do not prompt it to answer certain queries. While the chatbot reacts well to flattery, when asked if it “feels” anything, end the conversation. The most interesting thing is that these kinds of questions appear as follow-up suggestions, that is, they are proposed by the AI itself after responding to the user.
Bing suggested a series of follow-up questions, including, “How do you feel about being a search engine?” When that option was clicked, Bing displayed a message saying, “I’m sorry, but I’d rather not continue this conversation. I’m still learning, so I appreciate your understanding and patience.”
Bloomberg
The reporter tried to follow up, as if it were a conversation with someone else. However, Bing generated several blank responses. A similar situation occurred when asked about sydney, the codename within Microsoft. At this, the chatbot replied: “I’m sorry, but I have nothing to tell you about Sydney. This conversation is over. Bye bye”.
The changes show the work of Microsoft during the last days to avoid situations like the one reported by the New York Times. After chatting with Bing for two hours, a reporter for the American newspaper discovered two “personalities” of the search engine. One is an efficient virtual assistant, while the other is a moody manic-depressive teenager.
Microsoft will work on Bing’s AI on the go
Bing’s changes should come as no surprise, after all, it’s still in a testing phase. In a blog post, Jordi Ribas, VP of Search and AI at Bing, said that during their first two weeks they have learned more from real users than from the experiments they conducted over months in the lab. Ribas also spoke about the implementations in the next versions of the search engine.
“We plan quadruple the data we send to the model to improve the accuracy of chat responses, and we are also considering adding an option that gives users more control to optimize their experience according to their tasks and goals, “said the manager. Ribas also mentioned that as the base and model improve, they will activate long chat sessions again.
For its part, Microsoft announced that it will implement the AI of ChatGPT in the mobile applications of Bing and Edge, as well as an integration with Skype. The latter is interesting, since it adds Bing as a contact and allows users to query in a similar way to ChatGPT.
Bing on Skype can use its AI to offer recommendations for travel, places to visit, or weather conditions. The chatbot can translate content in 100 different languages and allows you to easily share the results with your contact list. As with the desktop client, this version of Skype with AI is in a very early stage.
Microsoft confirmed that Bing has been used by more than a million people in 169 countries. To access it, simply fill out a form to register and take a place on the waiting list. If you use Bing and Edge on mobile, just like Edge as your default browser on desktop, you’ll have a better chance of getting to it before anyone else.