
Even virtual assistants are sexually harassed - empressplay
http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/05/technology/virtual-assistants-sexual-harassment/index.html
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rl3
A friend of mine tested this behavior on Cortana shortly after installing
Windows 10.

Based on how clever and varied the responses were, all I could figure was that
people at Microsoft had spent a lot of time crafting specific responses to all
manner of filthy queries.

> _Harrison is one of eight writers who creates Cortana 's dialogue in the
> U.S. In addition to writing jokes and coming up with casual banter, her team
> has to figure out the best way to shut down vulgar conversations._

Mystery solved. I have to admit, eight people sitting in a corporate office
discussing the fine details of how their virtual robot responds to suggestive
questions is kind of sad, and yet really bizarre.

What a time to be alive.

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probably_wrong
This is the very definition of a non-issue. Yes, people ask weird questions to
virtual assistants, but that's _because_ they are virtual. It's literally
victimless, just like shooting someone in a FPS hurts no one.

~~~
Macacity
You obviously have not read the article:

>One smart way to learn how to handle harassment is to talk to real
assistants, which Microsoft did for Cortana. After all, they've been putting
up with similar behavior for years.

~~~
rrss1122
It's still not harassment. It's a _computer program_.

~~~
wink
My experiences were people who deliberately tried to ask the weirdest stuff
(not only sexual, even mostly not) on the first day they had access to Siri or
Cortana - not because it's victimless, because it's curiosity, i.e. "How was
this program primed with answers regarding topic x?"

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dawnbreez
As another comment points out, this could be a case of "well, she's just a
program. No harm, no foul."

However, I am male, so all of my opinions here are immediately moot; obviously
I am merely trying to create a world where I won't be prosecuted for whatever
vile crime I will inevitably commit.

Fight strawmen wjth strawmen, I guess. (Or is "strawmen" sexist?)

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wslh
More than a decade ago, a friend wrote a sexual chat bot disguised as a real
woman to sell hosting and other stuff. Many people were really engaged with
her. It seems the Turing test doesn't matter in this context.

An article about the author was written in 2008 in Spanish. This is the Google
Translate link:
[https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&...](https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&nv=1&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=es&tl=en&u=http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/suplementos/radar/9-4661-2008-06-08.html&usg=ALkJrhi1ep7xP8b3dvPPDY7UBvHMndgbng)

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PaulAJ
> " Robin Labs, which makes a voice-assistant for drivers, thinks there might
> be a market customizing personalities."

Shades of Genuine People Personalities
[http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Genuine_People_Personaliti...](http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Genuine_People_Personalities)

