Microsoft announced that it will begin testing a new feature that will let users choose the tone of the chat, with options for Precise (shorter, more focused answers), Creative (longer, more chatty answers), or Balanced for a mix of both. Microsoft is already loosening restrictions it recently placed on interactions with the Bing AI chatbot.
Microsoft implemented new guidelines last Friday that restricted the number of interactions testers may have and their duration in response to reports of weird behavior (such as the time it split into multiple personalities and one of them offered us furry porn). The restrictions limit testers to a maximum of 50 turns per day and five turns each session.
Longer chat conversations may cause Bing to “become repetitious or be encouraged / provoked to deliver comments that are not always helpful or in line with our planned tone,” according to Microsoft. For testers who have access, it has now increased that to six chat turns per session with a daily cap of 60 chats. According to a blog post on the company’s website, searches will soon be permitted and the daily cap will be raised to 100 sessions.
Even seasoned tech journalists failed this version of the mirror test, despite Microsoft’s claims that it did not “completely foresee” people utilizing the Bing AI bot for social amusement, so it added extra safeguards.
According to Ars Technica, Reddit commenters protested about the limit from last week, claiming that Microsoft “lobotomized her,” “neutered” the AI, and made her “a shell of its former self.” The folks to whom the Bing Team is replying in its post are as follows:
These long and intricate chat sessions are not something we would typically find with internal testing. In fact, the very reason we are testing the new Bing in the open with a limited set of preview testers is precisely to find these atypical use cases from which we can learn and improve the product.
Since placing the chat limits, we have received feedback from many of you wanting a return of longer chats, so that you can both search more effectively and interact with the chat feature better.
