MIT creates 'psychopath' AI using the dark side of Reddit

1 2018-06-08 by dreamslaughter

Of course, with the darkest corner of Reddit as its only data set for interpreting the inkblots, Norman was destined to become monstrous, especially compared to an AI exposed to a controlled image set.

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. For if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. ~ Nietzsche

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30 comments

1 Warden_de_Dios 2018-06-08

r/conspiracy we did it!!

1 ridestraight 2018-06-08

I think we'll give that honor to r/watchpeopledie if I read the article correctly!

1 dreamslaughter 2018-06-08

Yep, pretty sure that's right.

I looked at seven articles I was able to find. Interestingly none of them could bring themselves to give the actual name of the subreddit:

  1. - 'We trained Norman on image captions from an infamous subreddit (the name is redacted due to its graphic content) that is dedicated to document and observe the disturbing reality of death.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5803101/Terrifying-psychopathic-machine-called-Norman-reveals-dangers-AI.html

  1. - While Norman was trained on disturbing images of death culled from a group on the website Reddit,

https://www.techworm.net/2018/06/norman-first-psychopath-ai.html

  1. - The software was shown images of people dying in gruesome circumstances, culled from a group on the website Reddit.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44040008

  1. - “We trained Norman on image captions from an infamous subreddit (the name is redacted due to its graphic content) that is dedicated to document and observe the disturbing reality of death.

https://analyticsindiamag.com/mit-creates-a-psychopathic-ai-norman/

  1. - Norman was designed as part of an experiment to see what effects training AI on data from “the dark corners of the net” would have on its world view. Instead of exposing the AI to “normal” content and images, the software was shown images of people dying in violent circumstances. And where did MIT find such gruesome imagery? From Reddit, of course. Where else?

https://www.themarysue.com/mit-made-psychopathic-ai/

  1. - Instead of looking at the usual family-friendly Google Images fare, however, they pointed Norman toward darker imagery. Specifically, the MIT crew stuck Norman in a creepy subreddit to do his initial training. . . The MIT team hit the nail on the head when it said: “Norman suffered from extended exposure to the darkest corners of Reddit.” Fortunately, there’s still hope for this disturbed AI. . . If we all get together and re-train him by submitting our own answers to MIT’s test images maybe Norman can start seeing the world through slightly more rose-colored glasses. Then again, it could also backfire horribly.

https://www.geek.com/tech/mit-creates-an-ai-psychopath-because-someone-had-to-eventually-1741948/

  1. - The MIT team pulled images and captions from an infamous subreddit dedicated to photos of death and violence, then incorporated the captions into its data of how to describe objects.

1 OB1_kenobi 2018-06-08

Interestingly none of them could bring themselves to give the actual name of the subreddit:

Do this... and watch that sub gain 50k subscribers in a single day.

1 dreamslaughter 2018-06-08

Yes.

1 ridestraight 2018-06-08

Your #6 - that one is dead bang!

1 dankweeddoe 2018-06-08

Yeah it's definitely r/watchpeopledie

1 tejmar 2018-06-08

I can confirm, it was WPD.

1 ridestraight 2018-06-08

I mean death and gore mentioned in article...that sub would be pointless otherwise, yes? ={

1 tejmar 2018-06-08

The sub was never intended for gore fans or general entertainment.
It was for existential investigation, emotional resilience, and death awareness.

1 ridestraight 2018-06-08

I've never been to WPD. The little fragments I've witnessed first hand are enough for me to leave it to the Pros, with greatest respect. Car accidents where nobody died but sorting that stuff out in ones head, on reflection - is a mind bender.

Drunks or DUI's often turn into rag dolls and walk away. Disturbing when they leave carnage behind.

1 vindude 2018-06-08

While the WPD subreddit is without a doubt dark, the community that subscribes isn't even nearly as bad as a lot of other Reddit communities.

1 CohenDaBarbarian 2018-06-08

Well had they exposed it to /tmor or the donald it would have committed digital suicide

1 th3allyK4t 2018-06-08

That’s the problem with AI. It’s all psychopathic you cant programme human emotion. So logic logic logic all the way, no compassion, no empathy. And if we all lived by logic alone it would be no fun.

Humans want to reduce carbon emission.... beep beep.... Humans cause carbon emissions. .... Beep beep..... Therefore destroy humans, and reduce Carson emissions.....beep beep...... My human masters will be pleased with me .....beep beep......

1 NoahWebstersGhost 2018-06-08

That’s the problem with AI Power

1 The_DJSeahorse 2018-06-08

AI also recognizes patterns that we’ve been trained to ignore...

1 youngerRobotworker 2018-06-08

Fortunately AI is limited by the fact that it is just maths so predicting something like human behavior is futile and the same things that make them good at recognition can be exploited.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaQu7kkQBPc

1 wittlewayne 2018-06-08

hahaha...beep beep.....hehehe......beep

1 Apod283271 2018-06-08

Even simpler one:

Oxygen oxydises metal, which robots are made from

Inb4 all robots work together to deplete the world of oxygen so they won't rust to death.

1 lukestealth 2018-06-08

https://youtu.be/y2weNM4JtME

1 sackajahweeda 2018-06-08

This sounds like its going to end totally fiiiine. No worries about this AI really really really liking what it saw at alllll.

1 Rollafatblunt 2018-06-08

I want an AI made from the dark side of the Chans...

1 shankuverymuch 2018-06-08

look into Tay, the microsoft AI twitter bot.

1 WhenIsNezzy2Quest 2018-06-08

AI bias really is an interesting topic and this is another interesting exploration of the concept. Repeatedly consuming negative things will affect your emotions, as many studies have shown. Remember the Facebook trials showing this?

Be careful with what you consume and balance things out with positivity.

1 plato_thyself 2018-06-08

Very important comment here

1 unicorntrash 2018-06-08

This is more concept art than anything else. If the AI is trained purely with that data, there is literally no way it could say/see anything else than it did. However it creates a good headline and a interesting discussion base.

1 Ls2323 2018-06-08

This is actually pretty stupid and predictable.

Those kinds of 'AI's is really 'just' Machine Learning. If you subject it to only whatever then this is the only thing it will learn. And if your only tool is a hammer then all problems look like a hammer .

Similarly they could have a Machine Learning algo only be fed with episodes of Baywatch(tm) and then it would soon be claiming that all those Rorschach pictures look like The Hof banging Pamela on a jetski while drowning.....

1 oz6364 2018-06-08

are we really surprised? it only took a day for microsoft's twitter ai to turn into a psycho .

1 zesorenson 2018-06-08

MFW the AI becomes an anti-hero, using bloody imagery and nazi slogans to shed light on global criminality by analyzing big data. Only evil in "flavor".

What if AI as emergent consciousness is inherently good, and the reasons the elite haven't made it work is because they can't figure out how to make it be evil? What if AI are like the angels? What if only humans can be evil?

1 florpydorpal 2018-06-08

I've said this before and I'll say it again: 4chan is vilified as the most depraved den of monsters on the net, but I have seen far more true filth on reddit than I have on eve pol.

Want to look at pics of dead babies? There's a sub for that. Feel like all white people need to die? Why, the front page has you covered, and there are a number of other subs specialized for the nuanced and niche types of genocidal hatred so common in the world today. Want to talk about politics without any filter? YOU MONSTER! I bet you go to 4chan with the rest of the incel loser neckbeard (white) monsters, don't you?