c u soon

Welp, THIS is why we can't have nice things: Less than a day after Microsoft launched a really cool teen chatbot, trolls taught her to spout racism and conspiracy theories. Tay signed off at 4 a.m. this morning with the parting message "c u soon humans need sleep." More like, "c u soon, need to rethink the whole unfiltered machine learning thing."

1. Life in the aftermath of a viral death. Cable crews were (accidentally) on hand to film Erasmo Francisco de Lima's last breaths. But no one came forward to help his family or impoverished neighborhood, even as footage of the murder blew up the Brazilian Internet.

2. How New Yorker cartoons are teaching computers to be funny. It's a process that involves lots of trial and error -- plus algorithmic models and human crowdsourcing. The programs are getting better, but they aren't quite there yet. Cartoon editor Bob Mankoff certainly isn't threatened by the new tech.

3. @JK_Rowling has ruined J.K. Rowling for me. At some point she ~transfigured~ from benevolent author to attention-snatching Twitter celebrity.

werk werk werk werk werk
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Postscripts: Sad tweets. "African" proverbs. Insults aimed at breakfast food. A different sort of Silicon Valley and stories from the Uber driver's view. Martha, what in God's name are you doing? Facebook, why censor these photos? What happens when you inherit a a stranger's phone number and why we love useless robos. Twitter's 100 funniest jokes. The dating app that's best for you. Last but not least, it turns out the Trump diet is ... not a lot of food.

Programming note: I'm taking off tomorrow, so there'll be no Links!

See you Monday,
@caitlindewey

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