5 ms·

Should we really be forgiving one of the world's richest corporations for launching a marketing campaign with expansive claims for a half-baked product because,

Should we really be forgiving one of the world's richest corporations for launching a marketing campaign with expansive claims for a half-baked product because, in the fine print, they call it a technical preview?

luma 5y ago
Presumably you can get your money back if you don't like the results. edit: well this appears to be unpopular. It's a preview release, nobody is using this in production. They are offering the tech for free while they kick out the bugs and determine where things don't work as everyone expected. The fact that this is doing things they might not have expected suggests that this part of the process was necessary. If you expected this to be production-ready, then you've misunderstood the purpose of a preview release. This applies to MS the same as it does any other developer.
- tarsinge 5y ago
  The point of GP is that the grand PR campaign doesn't really state it's an unfinished product and that they are looking for free testers and security and legal audits.
  - luma 5y ago
    Do you parse "preview release" in some way other than that which I outline above?
- rorykoehler 5y ago
  It’s unacceptable to ship this kind of security flaw even for a half baked internal proof of concept.
- klyrs 5y ago
  If they're encouraging users to distribute my GPL code under a CC0 license that doesn't even mention my name, how am I gonna "get my money back?"
lmohseni 5y ago
This isn’t the first time Microsoft has introduced an AI that became hobbled by relatively easy to imagine exploits.
- eitland 5y ago
  Lets widen this a bit (possible slight hyperbole ahead, but generally this is my feeling now): It is more the rule than the exception that any service using AIs are less usable than the previous solution. That is, unless you think about how usable they are to extract money from gullible investors or for making laughing stock of their users and/or developers. In fact I while I'm certain they exist I cannot right now come up with a single product that I use for anything other than fun or creativity (games, painting) that have been improved by recent AI additions. Thinking of it maybe maybe Google Translate qualifies, but that depends on how you define recent. Oh, and by the way maybe there is something that qualifies as AI in some of the new translation web applications I've seen recently.
- nomoreplease 5y ago
  I assume you are referring to Tay? That was wild https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay_(bot) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay_(bot)
rattray 5y ago
It depends on whether they fix the problems before launch and whether the issues found during preview cause Real Problems (eg, secrets found this way resulting in significant cybercrime).
mysterydip 5y ago
Seems to work for Google?
- eitland 5y ago
  Only because people feel they have no option. And only for so long. DuckDuckGo.com is rising exponentially and have been doing so for years. Ans yes, mathematically exponentially, not cool kids speak or journalistically exponentially: https://duckduckgo.com/traffic https://duckduckgo.com/traffic
meh99 5y ago
What do you suggest that will make a difference in yet another human era of aristocratic capture of our lives and agency. They do not have an information advantage, just a political one. And we can see how concerned the general public is with taking control of politics for its gain. It very clearly prefers to be hands off and let a minority manipulate public agency for their gain.

luma 5y ago

Presumably you can get your money back if you don't like the results. edit: well this appears to be unpopular. It's a preview release, nobody is using this in production. They are offering the tech for free while they kick out the bugs and determine where things don't work as everyone expected. The fact that this is doing things they might not have expected suggests that this part of the process was necessary. If you expected this to be production-ready, then you've misunderstood the purpose of a preview release. This applies to MS the same as it does any other developer.

tarsinge 5y ago
The point of GP is that the grand PR campaign doesn't really state it's an unfinished product and that they are looking for free testers and security and legal audits.
- luma 5y ago
  Do you parse "preview release" in some way other than that which I outline above?
rorykoehler 5y ago
It’s unacceptable to ship this kind of security flaw even for a half baked internal proof of concept.
klyrs 5y ago
If they're encouraging users to distribute my GPL code under a CC0 license that doesn't even mention my name, how am I gonna "get my money back?"

lmohseni 5y ago

This isn’t the first time Microsoft has introduced an AI that became hobbled by relatively easy to imagine exploits.

eitland 5y ago
Lets widen this a bit (possible slight hyperbole ahead, but generally this is my feeling now): It is more the rule than the exception that any service using AIs are less usable than the previous solution. That is, unless you think about how usable they are to extract money from gullible investors or for making laughing stock of their users and/or developers. In fact I while I'm certain they exist I cannot right now come up with a single product that I use for anything other than fun or creativity (games, painting) that have been improved by recent AI additions. Thinking of it maybe maybe Google Translate qualifies, but that depends on how you define recent. Oh, and by the way maybe there is something that qualifies as AI in some of the new translation web applications I've seen recently.
nomoreplease 5y ago
I assume you are referring to Tay? That was wild https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay_(bot) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay_(bot)

rattray 5y ago

It depends on whether they fix the problems before launch and whether the issues found during preview cause Real Problems (eg, secrets found this way resulting in significant cybercrime).

mysterydip 5y ago

Seems to work for Google?

eitland 5y ago
Only because people feel they have no option. And only for so long. DuckDuckGo.com is rising exponentially and have been doing so for years. Ans yes, mathematically exponentially, not cool kids speak or journalistically exponentially: https://duckduckgo.com/traffic https://duckduckgo.com/traffic

meh99 5y ago

What do you suggest that will make a difference in yet another human era of aristocratic capture of our lives and agency. They do not have an information advantage, just a political one. And we can see how concerned the general public is with taking control of politics for its gain. It very clearly prefers to be hands off and let a minority manipulate public agency for their gain.