• From offensive facial recognition software to ¬¬¬¬¬¬an anti-Semitic TwitterBot,
we count nine times technology went wrong!
9 – Google Photos, • As any photographer or serial holidayer
knows good photo-managing software can be hard to find.
Google Photos is a popular option – as long as you can take its casual racism!
• You see, Google Images uses facial recognition software to tag people in images.
This is designed to save time when categorising photos or uploading to social media.
However Google got into some real hot water when it mistakenly categorised two African-American
men as monkeys.
The story quickly went viral and led to some fierce online debates about racist A.I.
• But at least Google Photos doesn’t discriminate.
It has also mistaken several white people for dogs or seals.
8 – Drone Attack, • When drones first hit the mass market
many people feared they’d be misused to invade our privacy.
But did anyone consider that drones might revolt and try to kill us?
• Okay, so most drones can’t think for themselves, but there have been many cases
of them mysteriously dropping out of the sky and hitting people in the face.
For instance, a drone carrying mistletoe in a TGIF restaurant fell and cut a part of someone’s
nose off.
And on another occasion a drone delivering asparagus to a Dutch restaurant crashed and
literally burst into flames.
• The best thing you can do is to always keep one eye on the sky because drones are
always watching…
7 – Google Earth, • Ah, Google Earth.
You’re basically a socially acceptable Big Brother.
This incredible online resource is super helpful for finding addresses or looking at distant
locations – but it can also be used for evil.
• For example, in Mumbai in 2008, the Indian government requested that Google blur certain
Google Earth images.
It seems terrorists had been using the satellite software to gain valuable intel and plot an
attack.
• Meanwhile, in the UK, thieves used Google Earth to find churches with valuable lead
roofs.
Although it’s hard to believe, they used this information to steal the metal and sell
it on the black market.
I don’t know…
That seems like a lot of effort.
Think I’d rather bag groceries. 6 – GPS Mishaps,
• Show of hands those who know how to use a map and compass?
Yep, this once essential skill has become almost obsolete thanks to Sat Nav and GPS
technologies.
But it’s not always a good idea to place all our faith in navigation devices…
• Did you know that a disturbingly high number of drivers have driven off cliffs,
into embankments, or even into the freaking Pacific Ocean while following the advice of
their trusty GPS?
One woman ended up caught in a golf course sandtrap, while another followed her device
onto a railway track.
She ended up getting collected by a train and carried 800 metres!
• So, a quick PSA: when driving trust your eyes and ears first, and your GPS second.
5 – Exploding E-Cigs, • Despite their douchey reputation, e-cigarettes
are considered a healthier alternative to regular tobacco.
They provide the same stress-relieving hit as Nicotine but without all that pesky lung
cancer business.
But there’s one major drawback.
• According to hundreds of reports, e-cigarettes have been known to explode in people’s faces!
Yep, according to the UK Government hundreds of fires have been started by exploding vape
sticks this year alone!
That certainly won’t help relieve stress.
• To prevent this, authorities are urging vapers to use the correct charger supplied
with the device.
Statistics also show that people who don’t smoke at all have significantly fewer things
exploding in their faces…
Just something to think about!
4 – Siri, • Apple’s iconic digital assistant Siri
is well known and loved.
But that doesn’t mean she hasn’t made a few hilarious and disturbing blunders.
As many people have noted, Siri really struggles with subtlety and sarcasm.
Although she’s the most advanced voice recognition software on the market you kind of need to
treat her like a slow third-grader…
• Most Siri fails are harmless fun, but there’s also a more worrying underlying
danger.
Y’see, many desperate people share their serious personal issues with Siri.
Things like their mental health problems, addictions or even admissions that they were
raped.
Rather than directing these people to the appropriate helpline, Siri unhelpfully responds
by giving rape victims the definition of ‘rape’.
She also tells gambling addicts and alcoholics where the nearest casinos and liquor stores
are.
• Is Siri’s lack of empathy part of the robot’s grand scheme to take humanity down?
Maybe.
3 – Nikon Face-Detection Cameras, • Here we have another face-recognition
software dipping its toe in the racism pool – this time Japanese camera company Nikon.
• Nikon’s cameras have built in face-detection software that alerts the photographer when
some blinking berk has ruined their shot.
But one blogger observed that her Nikon camera always flashed its ‘eyes closed’ warning
when the subject of the photo was Asian.
• Yep, even though the subjects clearly have their eyes open, and even though Nikon
is a Japanese company, this racially insensitive error somehow slipped through the cracks.
Nikon promptly issued an apology and promised to keep their global audience in mind when
designing future models.
2 – CaptionBot, • In early 2016, Microsoft unveiled its
latest in offensive A.I.
technology: CaptionBot – a robot that automatically generates captions for your photos.
What could possibly go wrong?
• This feature was designed to save the user time when uploading big batches of photos.
First, an API breaks down the image into smaller components, then Bing identifies each one
to determine how the person in the photograph is feeling.
This is supposed to ensure that the captions given are appropriate and that they suit the
tone of the photo.
• But of course this has led to hundreds of embarrassing, insensitive and outright
offensive errors.
CaptionBot has done everything from call women suitcases, Michelle Obama a cell phone and
describing a funeral as a warm get-together where everyone dresses up.
Technology has come so far…
But there’s still a ways to go.
1 – Microsoft’s Twitterbot, • Silly Microsoft.
On March 23 2016 they unleashed Tay, a highly intelligent Twitterbot that could communicate
and learn speech patterns from its fellow Twitter users.
Less than twenty-four hours later Tay had transformed from a sweet and curious A.I.
into a racist, sexist bully.
• By chatting to other Twitter users, Tay learnt how to use crude slang and became interested
in drugs and Nazism.
After going renegade and spamming its followers with useless tweets, the potty-mouthed A.I.
had to be permanently shut down.
• I guess that’s what happens when you trust the internet to train your A.I.
What a rookie mistake.