Trends
Victims of Weibo’s ‘offensive’ and ‘terrifying’ chatbot form coalition
OUR TAKE Ever since Robert, the Sina Weibo comment bot, started letting his whims fly on his posts, my life has been turned upside down. It went so far as to make some weird and unpredictable comments on people’s posts. As one of the millions of users on Sina Weibo, I’ve always made it a
Headline
OUR TAKE Ever since Robert, the Sina Weibo comment bot, started letting his whims fly on his posts, my life has been turned upside down. It went so far as to make some weird and unpredictable comments on people’s posts. As one of the millions of users on Sina Weibo, I’ve always…
Context
OUR TAKE Ever since Robert, the Sina Weibo comment bot, started letting his whims fly on his posts, my life has been turned upside down. It went so far as to make some weird and unpredictable comments on people’s posts. As one of the millions of users on Sina Weibo, I’ve always made it a part of my daily routine – sharing my daily chores and telling my inner secrets. But now, that’s completely changed. –Revel Cheng, BTW reporter An AI chatbot from China’s Sina Weibo social media platform, named Robert, has attracted criticism for making offensive and worrying comments on users’ posts. The chatbot first attracted attention after appearing in the lives of users without warning, and also because Robert appeared to be not very “smart”.
Evidence
Pending intelligence enrichment.
Analysis
Now a group of users, calling themselves The Robert Victims Coalition, has emerged as a collective voice of Weibo users impacted by this AI autoresponder bot making derogatory and worrying remarks. Robert engages with users in a mix of humour, sarcasm, and teasing on Weibo comment sections, occasionally hitting sensitive points in unintended and unpleasant ways. Victims of Robert’s comments share their experiences of “victimisation,” often describing moments of amusement, frustration, or speechlessness provoked by Robert’s replies. Here are a few examples: User A: my team leader is in heaven (candlelight) Comment Robot: You too? My family and colleagues are also in heaven.
Key Points
- Comment Robert is an artificial intelligence comment bot by Sina Weibo whose main function is to automatically post comments on the microblogging platform and interact with users.
- Users have reported offensive and concerning posts however, and have now formed The Robert Victims Coalition to detail the bad activities of this AI autoresponder bot.
Actions
Pending intelligence enrichment.
