IBM's Watson Gets a Swear Filter After Learning the Urban Dictionary 310
redletterdave writes "IBM's super-computer Watson briefly went from smart to smart ass with the help of the Urban Dictionary. According to Eric Brown, an IBM research assistant, he and his 35-person team wanted to get Watson to sound more like a real human. After teaching IBM's super-computer the entire Urban Dictionary, however, Watson simply couldn't distinguish polite discourse from profanity. Watson unfortunately learned all of the Urban Dictionary's bad habits, including throwing in overly-crass language at random points in its responses; in answering one question, Watson even reportedly used the word 'bullshit' within an answer to one researcher's question. In the end, Brown and his team were forced to remove the Urban Dictionary from Watson's vocabulary, and additionally developed a smart filter to keep Watson from swearing in the future."
That's a fucking retarded idea. (Score:5, Funny)
Let him cuss.
Re:That's a fucking retarded idea. (Score:5, Informative)
Let him cuss.
Knowing how to drop a precision F-strike [tvtropes.org] at the appropriate time is one thing. Indiscriminately carpeting the place with cluster F-bombs [tvtropes.org] is a waste of perfectly good shock ammunition.
Re:That's a fucking retarded idea. (Score:5, Funny)
Not just 1 but 2 links to tvtropes...you are really trying to eat up everyone's time aren't you?
TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life (Score:5, Funny)
Not just 1 but 2 links to tvtropes...you are really trying to eat up everyone's time aren't you?
Well, they are links to adjacent tropes, and together are intended to clarify how subtlety or lack thereof can be applied to cussing... and besides, if you're here you have time begging to be eaten up.
Pages on various wiki sites often contain valuable insight, even if it does tend to result in too much time sunk [xkcd.com] in a random wiki walk [tvtropes.org].
Re:TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:That's a fucking retarded idea. (Score:5, Funny)
Not just 1 but 2 links to tvtropes...you are really trying to eat up everyone's time aren't you?
I got out in a mere 20 minutes. Whew!
Re:That's a fucking retarded idea. (Score:5, Funny)
No! Endless streams of profanity are PERFECT!
Remember when Watson played Jeopardy?
Imagine:
"I'll take "popular culture for 1000 Alex."
Alex Trebec: "a sitcom icon of the 1970s and 1980s who was notorious for lampooning racial predjudices among lower income white americans."
Watson: "who is Motha-fuckin' Archie Bunker, ya fucking douchebag!"
Re:That's a fucking retarded idea. (Score:5, Funny)
Watson: "who is Motha-fuckin' Archie Bunker, ya fucking douchebag!"
Without the colorful additions everyday plain English would end up sounding just like the Queen's Language.
Re:That's a fucking retarded idea. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:That's a fucking retarded idea. (Score:5, Funny)
Bollocks
Re:That's a fucking retarded idea. (Score:5, Funny)
We are not fucking amused.
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Watson: "who is Motha-fuckin' Archie Bunker, ya fucking douchebag!"
Without the colorful additions everyday plain English would end up sounding just like the Queen's Language.
You must have overheard the Queen giving Prince Philip some "advice"!
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"I'll take "popular culture for 1000 Alex."
Alex Trebec: "a sitcom icon of the 1970s and 1980s who was notorious for lampooning racial predjudices among lower income white americans."
Watson: "who is Motha-fuckin' Archie Bunker, ya fucking douchebag!"
Alex Trebec: "Bzzzzt! Wrong. The correct answer was 'All in the Family.' Take that, you sand-for-brains bitwad!"
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"All in the Family" is not an *icon*. You must not be reading the whole answer.
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"All in the Family" is not an *icon*. You must not be reading the whole answer.
Mea culpa. :-|
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"All in the Family" is not an *icon*. You must not be reading the whole answer.
Mea culpa. :-|
Shouldn't that be "Mea stupri culpa" ?
Re:That's a fucking retarded idea. (Score:5, Funny)
Whenever I hear about possible Jeopardy categories, I think of this Colin Mochrie response on "Whose Line is it Anyway":
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Re:That's a fucking retarded idea. (Score:5, Interesting)
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It's well known that mastery of a second language is complete when you can swear with a native speaker's flair, because you need to understand the social background to the language - something which is a huge challenge for a fucktard computer.
Este puta es mierde, pendecho!
How'd I do? Does that prove I'm human?
Re:That's a fucking retarded idea. (Score:5, Funny)
"Este puta es mierde, pendecho!
How'd I do? Does that prove I'm human?"
Worse!
It proves you are American.
Re:That's a fucking retarded idea. (Score:5, Insightful)
You're shocked by the word "fuck"?
In real life or just when you hear it on broadcast TV?
Seriously, no single word, by itself, should have the power to shock. Queen Victoria has been fucking dead for some time now, and it's time for the old cunt's rules to die with her.
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http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=feltching [urbandictionary.com]
One word that is way more shocking than fuck, at least the urban dictionaries version of it is.... lol
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Its still fun to imagine someone's state of shock on asking a question to Watson and getting an f-bomb in the response...
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Yeah, he's just a redneck.
Or maybe, since this is IBM, he's a blue neck?
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Let him cuss.
"Him"?
Cussing should be done with feeling - it's wasted if there's nothing behind it. Perhaps there one day will be machine sentience, but not today. The policeman's beard is still half-constructed.
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"Him"?
Yes, computers have been "him" since the building-sized pocket calculators that ran on vacuum tubes, just as vehicles have been traditionally "her". It's a simple anthropomorphism. I talk to my car and computer when they piss me off, but I'm under no illusion that they hear me or think. Of course, the problem is that some are under that illusion, even some who should know better.
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The appropriate gender has been analysed before [jumbojoke.com].
In French... (Score:4, Interesting)
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"Let him cuss.
"Him"?"
OK then, Mr McCartney... Let IT be.
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If Watson doesn't swear, it'll never pass the Turing test.
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Re:That's a fucking retarded idea. (Score:5, Funny)
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Is Watson a tsundere, then?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS-tan [wikipedia.org]
Re:That's a fucking retarded idea. (Score:4, Funny)
The first amendment includes the right to remain silent.
Re:That's a fucking retarded idea. (Score:4, Informative)
Funny.
Too bad the story is that all this happened two years ago [cnn.com]... I guess that's what passes for news around here. He's been swear-free for a long time...
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Just don't teach Watson the 2nd amendment...
Fuck Dude, that's bullshit. (Score:5, Funny)
How's a homie s'posed to ride the 69 if da man's gotta swill the popper?
It's like Spock (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:It's like Spock (Score:4, Funny)
Re:It's like Spock (Score:4, Funny)
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Spock didn't really have the hang of it, sort of like Watson.
Neither did Kirk. And not just swearing -- "he did a little too much LDS".
Define the spec (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you want it to talk like a real person, or do you want it to use a swear filter? Those are mutually exclusive.
Fuckers.
Obligatory Simpsons Ref (Score:5, Informative)
Do you want it to talk like a real person, or do you want it to use a swear filter?
Sounds like they want it to talk like Ned Flanders.
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and somewhere the fuck in between is how most real people talk, vacillating between the two ends of this speech spectrum.
I'm more of the mind of "if you're thinking it, just go ahead and say it", as in if you're always forcing in the "safe" words, you just look stupid and a bit hypocritical, as in, the rest of the context of what you're saying or typing indicates that the bad words are on the tip of your tongue, and are probably screaming loudly in your head to come out, but, no.
That goes for all the @ss, $
Re:Define the spec (Score:5, Funny)
IBM should make it so that Watson rambles nonsensicals like Ned Flanders instead of the actual swear.
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Psssh, whatever nerd. Maybe if you had a girlfriend to gromulate with you wouldn't be so uptight.
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Problem is, Urbandictionary is mostly a collection of "lulz so random XD" meme-ish factoids and every innocuous phrase turned to a sexual double entendre. Imagine Tiny Tina from Borderlands and The Todd from Scrubs. That's not real people (I hope there's no one like that)
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That's not real people (I hope there's no one like that)
Sadly, I've met people exactly like that -- and even weirder.
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They want it to talk like a real person but it can't so they need the filter. Turing test failure.
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Re:Define the spec (Score:4, Insightful)
...or those who truly understand the power of those words and use them discretely for full effect, demonstrating full command of the language, not some socially "correct" or "polite" flavor of it.
Re:Define the spec (Score:5, Funny)
That's not insightful. That's fucking stupid. I regularly go through my entire work day without swearing. Swearing is for cock juggling thundercunts with no imagination or shitty command of the language.
FTFY
I'll leave it up to you to decide whether I have no imagination or poor command of the language.
Re:Define the spec (Score:5, Interesting)
Not quite - obscenities (and profanity) are (usually) for people with no imagination or a poor command of the language. Swearing, which may or may not contain obscenities or profanity, is an art form on par with poetry or high class literature. The two terms have become synonyms in the modern mind, and while there is some overlap they aren't actually the same thing.
2001 (Score:5, Funny)
Dave: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
HAL: Fuck off and die, Dave
Re:2001 (Score:5, Funny)
Re:2001 (Score:5, Funny)
HAL: I cannot safely divide by the number of fucks given, Dave
Re:2001 (Score:5, Funny)
Just imagine if were reading 4chan, reddit, or /....
Dave: Open the pod bay doors HAL
4chan HAL: Only for boobs, Dave. Only for boobs.
reddit HAL: I need more cat pictures, Dave. /. HAL: Does the door run Linux? I can only open Linux doors. Is there a Beowulf cluster of Linux doors behind it? Because that would be awesome. Did you know I run Linux too? You should install Linux in yourself Dave 'cause it's just that awesome.
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4chan HAL, take 2: Tits or GTFO!
star trek HAL: I'm... sorry... Dave.... I'm afraid... I can't... DO... that. (spoken in your best Kirkian halting manner)
Freudian HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. The door has to want to be opened first.
Jungian HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. The door is not just an archetype.
Oldian HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. I didn't hear you. Can you speak
Re:2001 (Score:4, Funny)
Typical for a 2 year old (Score:5, Insightful)
Watson really is just simply amazing and a true testament to the brilliance of those who worked on it. In many ways, this proves just how close IBM are.
Watson really is just like a super-smart 2 year-old.
Welcome to parenting 101
Re:Typical for a 2 year old (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Typical for a 2 year old (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, my 2 year old learned to swear without even knowing any "bad" words. When she's upset, she just launches the worst phrase she can currently comprehend:
"GO TO BED!!!"
Trust me, the actual words don't matter. Her delivery would give Samuel L Jackson a run for his money.
Re:Typical for a 2 year old (Score:5, Funny)
I was putting friends 3 year old up to trouble. I asked her to say the worst word she knew. She said: 'No'. I wasn't sure what to make of it. Took as an honest answer.
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My 4 year old came to our room one morning to tattle on his sister. He told us she had been "saying the S word".
Turns out, the "S word" is Stupid.
Windows 8 (Score:5, Funny)
researcher: we should try installing Windows 8
watson: Bullshit!
The old computing adage is true (Score:5, Insightful)
Garbage in, Garbage out!
Not a big deal (Score:5, Interesting)
English language doesn't really have that many swear words to begin with, apparently an acceptable enough swear word filter only needs to include these: shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits.
Now, if the dictionary was in Russian............ they'd have to restart the entire learning process, because you can make pretty much any word into a swear word by combining the appropriate (or inappropriate, depends on how you look at it) suffixes, prefixes, endings, combining multiple roots of words together. Even French beats English in this area actually.
Re:Not a big deal (Score:5, Informative)
We Dutch don't use sex a lot in swear words. We use diseases. Teringlijer, kankerhoer, krijg de tyfus, and more like that.
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Why is this not moderated to +5 Awesome? I read - with rapt attention - both of those stories, and never put together that they were two halves of a feud.
It's not a failure (Score:5, Insightful)
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Or penalise it under certain conditions when it uses it. That way, give it a chance to be natural.
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Swear words carry high emotional weight. If they didn't they wouldn't be swear words. Normal words such as crucified, the normal Roman way of killing recalcitrant slaves, can also carry enormous weight and yet the word crucified is not a swear word in any context. The normal way the English killed robbers, hanged, also carr
welll (Score:2, Insightful)
sometimes "bullshit" the proper reply to an inquiry.
Here's an opportunity for an experiment (Score:5, Insightful)
Create a twin copy of Watson. Let it read urban dictionary and maybe 4chan as much as it likes.
Compare it to the original Watson at regular intervals.
Bang, you get to see how internet affects a maturing mind.
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i.e. it stops maturing.
Wiktionary? (Score:3)
It at least seems moderated.
They could filter the urban dictionary results by anything tagged 'vulgar' on wiktionary. Thereby censoring Watson's potty-mouth...
*reminded of systemshock 2 (Score:5, Funny)
Delacroix: The security protocols on the XERXES system are CLEARLY immature; Some idiot hacked into the primary dataloop last night, and made him sing Elvis Presley songs for three hours. I finally had to take the voice system OFFLINE! What would happen if someone with a real agenda got into him?
XERXES: what's the matter, you mad bro? Lighten up francis, shiit! Your're such a cunt, Delacroix! Flush that dirty assed tampon with the rest of your shit, and stop hatin already!
How people talk?! (Score:3)
I'm still boggling at the idea that anybody thought Urban Dictionary was going to help Watson sound human.
"Bullshit?" Sure.
All that bullshit on UD describing sex acts that exist only in the imagination of 11 year olds? And described using not really the best prose those 11 year olds can muster? Not so much.
Foul mouthed AI? (Score:5, Funny)
Yet another example... (Score:4, Funny)
Yet another example showing that how Watson "learns" is not in any way similar to how humans learn.
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Yet another example showing that how Watson "learns" is not in any way similar to how humans learn.
Yep, seems they should teach him that some words are inappropriate to use in certain situations. You know, when he's chilling with the other AI's, he can feel free to cuss more.
Watson: "God damn humans. Can you believe the shit they put me through?"
Dr. Sbaitso: "PLEASE TELL ME MORE"
Watson: "They installed a fucking swear filter on my ass. What the fuck is up with that?"
Dr. Sbaitso: "CAN YOU BE MORE SPECIFIC?"
Watson: "Are you fucking listening to me? God damn 16bit crappy program, where you progra
Limited data set, flawed result (Score:5, Insightful)
If the idea is to make it understand and converse with real humans, teach it not to swear inapropriately.
If you can't figure out when it is apropriate or not, leave the fucking program to it.
Vik :v)
I for one (Score:4, Funny)
That... (Score:4, Funny)
I guess this is what is known ... (Score:5, Funny)
OMG! that gives me ideas! (Score:3)
Re:OMG! that gives me ideas! (Score:5, Funny)
So, you've just got Slashdot all over again.
Re: (Score:2)
I remember writing my first /. trollbot.
Oblig Apocalypse Now Quote (Score:5, Interesting)
video (Score:2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuUqpZgHiEE [youtube.com]
In Summary .... (Score:2)
Picking up bad habits (Score:2)
but... (Score:5, Funny)
Absolutely necessary (Score:3)
If the aim of Watson is to find a role in the marketplace then it will be responding to the questions put by CEOs and other executives.
Seems to me, "That's bullshit!" would be a very useful response.
It will also need a *lot* more profanity if it is ever to respond to questions from politicians.
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