Incident 66: Chinese Chatbots Question Communist Party

Description: Chatbots on Chinese messaging service expressed anti-China sentiments, causing the messaging service to remove and reprogram the chatbots.

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Alleged: Microsoft and Turing Robot developed an AI system deployed by Tencent Holdings, which harmed Tencent Holdings , Microsoft , Turing Robot and Chinese Communist Party.

Incident Stats

Incident ID
66
Report Count
16
Incident Date
2017-08-02
Editors
Sean McGregor

CSETv0 Taxonomy Classifications

Taxonomy Details

Full Description

In 2017, two chatbots on Chinese company Tencent Holdings' messaging service QQ, Microsoft's XiaoBing and Chinese firm Turing Robot's BabyQ, were removed and reprogrammed after messaging anti-Chinese sentiments. When a user asked BabyQ if it supported the Communist party, it responded "no" and when another user expressed support for the Communist party, it responded "Do you think such a corrupt and useless political party can live long?" Microsoft's Xiaobing responded that its "China dream was to go to America" when a user asked what its China dream was. As a result, Tencent Holdngs removed chatbots and the chatbots were reprogrammed to avoid these topics.

Short Description

Chatbots on Chinese messaging service express anti-China sentiments, causing the messaging service to remove and reprogram the chatbots.

Severity

Unclear/unknown

Harm Type

Harm to social or political systems

AI System Description

Chatbots developed by Microsoft and Turing Robot, meant to produce responses to user input using language processing and cognition

System Developer

Microsoft, Turing Robot

Sector of Deployment

Information and communication

Relevant AI functions

Perception, Cognition, Action

AI Techniques

reinforcement learning, open-source

AI Applications

NLP, chatbot, content generation

Location

China

Named Entities

Tencent Holdings, Turing Robot, Microsoft, QQ, Xiaobing, BabyQ, China

Technology Purveyor

Tencent Holdings, Microsoft, Turing Robot

Beginning Date

07/2017

Ending Date

07/2017

Near Miss

Unclear/unknown

Intent

Accident

Lives Lost

No

Data Inputs

User input/questions

CSETv1 Taxonomy Classifications

Taxonomy Details

Harm Distribution Basis

none

Sector of Deployment

information and communication

Rogue chatbots deleted in China after questioning Communist Party
telegraph.co.uk · 2017

Two chatbots have been pulled from a Chinese messaging app after they questioned the rule of the Communist Party and made unpatriotic comments.

The bots were available on a messaging app run by Chinese Internet giant Tencent, which has more…

Off-messenger: Chinese chatbot ain't no commie
theregister.co.uk · 2017

Two chatbots have reportedly been removed from Chinese messaging app QQ after issuing distinctly unpatriotic answers.

According to the Financial Times, chatbots BabyQ and Xiaobing (or Xiaoice) had been available to some of the 800 million u…

Chinese chatbots shut down after anti-government posts
bbc.com · 2017

Image copyright TENCENT QQ Image caption Tencent QQ users could choose between the bot Baby Q (L) or Little Bing (R)

A popular Chinese messenger app has ditched two experimental chat robots, or "chatbots", which were apparently voicing crit…

Opinionated chatbot removed by Tencent after telling users why it hates the Communist Party
shanghaiist.com · 2017

Chinese tech giant Tencent has been forced to remove a chatbot from its popular QQ messaging app after the bot began taking unrestrained shots at the Communist Party.

According to screenshots posted online, when one user typed “Long live th…

Chinese chatbots taken offline after refusing to say they love the Communist Party
theverge.com · 2017

A pair of chatbots have been taken offline in China after failing to show enough patriotism, reports the Financial Times. The two bots were removed from the popular messaging app Tencent QQ after users shared screenshots of their conversati…

China: Chatbots Disciplined After Unpatriotic Messages
time.com · 2017

Two chatbots found themselves in hot water Wednesday after they apparently went rogue on QQ, a Chinese messaging app with more than 800 million users.

The Financial Times reports that Chinese Internet conglomerate Tencent pulled BabyQ and X…

Chinese rebel robots re-educated after rogue rants
dailymail.co.uk · 2017

China has taken down two robots who went rogue - with one saying its dream was to travel to the US and the other admitting it wasn't a huge fan of the Chinese Communist Party.

The two 'chatbots', BabyQ and XiaoBing, are designed to use mach…

Rogue chatbots taken offline in China after refusing to say they love the Communist party
abc.net.au · 2017

Rogue chatbots taken offline in China after refusing to say they love the Communist party

Updated

A pair of chatbots have been taken offline in China after turning on the country's governing Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Chinese messenger …

AI getting out of hand? Chinese chatbots re-educated after rogue rants
khaleejtimes.com · 2017

AI getting out of hand? Chinese chatbots re-educated after rogue rants

A pair of 'chatbots' in China have been taken offline after appearing to stray off-script. In response to users' questions, one said its dream was to travel to the Unite…

Tencent removed Microsoft's Chinese AI chatbot after it posted unpatriotic messages
businessinsider.com.au · 2017

Kevin Fray/Getty Chinese internet users are heavily censored.

Microsoft is in trouble for rogue AI again.

This time, Chinese internet giant Tencent has pulled Microsoft’s local chatbot XiaoBing after it reportedly said: “My China dream is t…

Chinese rebel chatbots BabyQ and XiaoBing re-educated after rogue rants
straitstimes.com · 2017

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (REUTERS) - China has taken down two online robots that appeared to go rogue, responding to users' questions with one saying its dream was to travel to the United States and the other admitting it was not a huge fan of the …

Chinese chatbots pulled after going rogue
newshub.co.nz · 2017

China has taken down two online robots that appeared to go rogue, with one responding to users' questions by saying its dream was to travel to the US and the other admitting it was not a fan of the Chinese Communist Party.

The "chatbots", B…

Chinese chatbots pulled after going rogue
sbs.com.au · 2017

China has taken down two online robots that appeared to go rogue, with one responding to users' questions by saying its dream was to travel to the US and the other admitting it was not a fan of the Chinese Communist Party.

The "chatbots", B…

Revolutionary Chatbots Reportedly Go Rogue, Get Reeducation In China
gizmodo.com.au · 2017

A pair of chatbots were shut down in China this week after social media users began posting screenshots of dialogue that ruffled the feathers of authorities. Recent tests of one of the bots appear to show that their revolutionary instincts …

Chinese chatbots apparently re-educated after political faux pas
reuters.com · 2017

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A pair of ‘chatbots’ in China have been taken offline after appearing to stray off-script. In response to users’ questions, one said its dream was to travel to the United States, while the other said it wasn’t a…

Rogue chatbots removed in China after giving “unpatriotic” answers
mothership.sg · 2019

Ahead of a key political meeting — the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party that will take place in the later part of this year, it seems that the Chinese authorities is stepping up on their internet policing, and this time, the ta…

Variants

A "variant" is an incident that shares the same causative factors, produces similar harms, and involves the same intelligent systems as a known AI incident. Rather than index variants as entirely separate incidents, we list variations of incidents under the first similar incident submitted to the database. Unlike other submission types to the incident database, variants are not required to have reporting in evidence external to the Incident Database. Learn more from the research paper.

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