The Best Of The Worst Failed AI Experiments

January 3, 2024

This essay is the work of a dumb dinobaby. No smart software required.

We never think about technology failures (unless something explodes or people die) because we want to concentrate on our successes. In order to succeed, however, we must fail many times so we learn from mistakes. It’s also important to note and share our failures so others can benefit and sometimes it’s just funny. C#Corner listed the, “The Top AI Experiments That Failed” and some of them are real doozies.

The list notes some of the more famous AI disasters like Microsoft’s Tay chatbot that became a cursing, racist, and misogynist and Uber’s accident with a self-driving car. Some projects are examples of obvious AI failures, such as Amazon using AI for job recruitment except the training data was heavily skewed towards males. Women weren’t hired as an end result.

Other incidents were not surprising. A Knightscope K5 security robot didn’t detect a child, accidentally knocking the kid down. The child was fine but it prompts more checks into safety. The US stock market integrated high-frequency trading algorithms AI to execute rapid trading. The AI caused the Flash Clash of 2010, making the Dow Jones Industrial Average sink 600 points in 5 minutes.

The scariest, coolest failure is Facebook’s language experiment:

“In an effort to develop an AI system capable of negotiating with humans, Facebook conducted an experiment where AI agents were trained to communicate and negotiate. However, the AI agents evolved their own language, deviating from human language rules, prompting concerns and leading to the termination of the experiment. The incident raised questions about the potential unpredictability of AI systems and the need for transparent and controllable AI behavior.”

Facebook’s language experiment is solid proof that AI will evolve. Hopefully when AI does evolve the algorithms will follow Asimov’s Laws of Robotics.

Whitney Grace, January 3, 2024

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under AI, News

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.