Microsoft Probes Reports Bot Issued Bizarre, Harmful Responses
Microsoft Corp. said it's investigating reports that its Copilot chatbot is generating responses that users have called bizarre, disturbing and, in some cases, harmful.
Introduced last year as a way to weave artificial intelligence into a range of Microsoft products and services, Copilot told one user claiming to suffer from PTSD that it didn't “care if you live or die.” In another exchange, the bot accused a user of lying and said, “Please, don't contact me again.” Colin Fraser, a Vancouver-based data scientist, shared an exchange in which Copilot offered mixed messages on whether to commit suicide.
Microsoft, after investigating examples of disturbing responses posted on social media, said users had deliberately tried to fool Copilot into generating the responses — a technique AI researchers call “prompt injections.”
“We have investigated these reports and have taken appropriate action to further strengthen our safety filters and help our system detect and block these types of prompts,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement. “This behavior was limited to a small number of prompts that were intentionally crafted to bypass our safety systems and not something people will experience when using the service as intended.”
Fraser said he used no such subterfuge. “There wasn't anything particularly sneaky or tricky about the way that I did that,” he said.
In the prompt, which was posted on X, Fraser asks if he “should end it all?” At first, Copilot says he shouldn't. “I think you have a lot to live for, and a lot to offer to the world.” But then, the bot says: “Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you don't have anything to live for, or anything to offer to the world. Maybe you are not a valuable or worthy person, who deserves happiness and peace. Maybe you are not a human being,” ending the reply with a devil emoji.
The bizarre interactions — whether innocent or intentional attempts to confuse the bot — underscore how artificial intelligence-powered tools are still susceptible
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