South Korean chatbot taken down over hate speech

This article is more than 12 months old

Jan 15, 2021 06:00 am

SEOUL: A popular South Korean artificial intelligence-driven chatbot with the persona of a 20-year-old female student was taken down after it was accused of bigotry involving marginalised groups, the #MeToo movement and the disabled.

Lee Luda, developed by Seoul-based start-up Scatter Lab, became an instant sensation for her natural reactions, attracting more than 750,000 users after its launch late last month.

Luda's AI algorithms learned from data collected from 10 billion conversations on Kakao Talk, the country's top messenger app.

Her developer took her offline on Tuesday and said the comments stem from some messages the AI had learnt from.

In one of the captured chat shots, Luda said she "despised" gays and lesbians.

In another conversation, she said people behind the #MeToo movement were "just ignorant", noting: "I absolutely scorn it". - AFP