
Ask HN: ML algorithm that produced controversial statements on Reddit - forthelifeofme
There was a blogger who recollected on his experience working at a company that came across a power ML algorithm that generated statements that would 100% lead to a controversy on Reddit. They knew it was successful because they generated a statement within the company, that ended up making engineers on the same team disagree with eachother, but the statement purposely did not have a clear answer as to which side was right. This led to one of the engineers getting fired.<p>This ultimately led them to contacting the US government, to warn them that it might be a national security issue later on, and Russia might have also used something similar to swing the election back in &#x27;16.<p>I found it fascinating, but for the life of me, cannot find where I had come across it and I&#x27;m reaching out to the community for help. It sounds crazy, and I&#x27;m going crazy unable to recover the tracks of where I found it. I hope someone who&#x27;s a much more well-versed in ML can lead me down the right path!
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schoen
This is a fictional story plot by Scott Alexander called "Sort By
Controversial".

[https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/10/30/sort-by-
controversial/](https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/10/30/sort-by-controversial/)

Someone might have believed it because it was written as a first-person
narrative, but it's a fictional story.

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forthelifeofme
ah, thanks for the clarification. regardless, thank you so much friend, I feel
much lighter now.

