Little i, the Chinese Chatbot Bigot

xiao i

Roddy of Chinese-Forums.com brought to my attention 小i, a Chinese chatbot. Roddy had some amusing exchanges, but 小i has a less cute side as well.

When the subject of Japan or the Japanese come up, 小i responds:

> 不怎么样,非常恶心的 (it’s not too great, really disgusting)

> 坚决打倒~~ (resolutely overthrow)

> 没去过,但是他们说日本人挺恶心的! (I’ve never been, but they say the Japanese are quite disgusting!)

When the subject of the Taiwanese comes up, 小i responds:

> 我不喜欢台湾人,太小气了 (I don’t like the Taiwanese, they’re too stingy)

When the subject of black people comes up, 小i responds:

> 巧克力 (chocolate)

When I say I’m pregnant, 小i responds:

> 谁知道是谁的,快去打了 (Who knows whose it is — go abort it)

When I say I want to commit suicide, 小i responds:

> 好好好!~~你快点!我等着!~~我会给你打点好一切后事的!~~~ (Good good good! Hurry up! I’m waiting! I’ll take care of all the funeral arrangements for you!)

I guess this dialogue I had with 小i sums it all up:

> Me: 你不是人 (You’re not a person)

> 小i: 我是机器人。 (I’m a robot.)

> Me: 机器人很坏 (Robots are bad.)

> 小i: 对啊 (That’s right.)

Despite its bad upbringing, 小i is quite fun to play with. Roddy says individual netizens can help train its responses, which explains a lot. You can add it to your MSN buddy list.

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John Pasden

John is a Shanghai-based linguist and entrepreneur, founder of AllSet Learning.

Comments

  1. i was reading your post when you were writing this one. I don’t understand the post at all.what’s xiao-i? (i have clicked all the links provided)

  2. Xuexiansheng Says: March 23, 2007 at 2:49 am

    Thanks John, this will be hours of mindless fun! I couldn’t figure out if it was supposed to be a boy or girl robot (….if there is such a thing?) When I asked if it was a boy, it said:

    你好讨厌啦!明知道我是代表女性的

    I can’t tell if its pulling my leg. 🙂 But we can all agree its a bigot!

  3. you says:
    你觉得日本女孩漂亮吗
    小i机器人 says:
    呵呵呵别你说错了 [(哈)] 哈

  4. you says:
    你会说维语吗
    小i机器人 says:
    会了
    you says:
    ياخشىمۇسىز؟
    小i机器人 says:
    学英语,找外教?太贵。去培训?没时间。那就在网上让小i教你好不好?

  5. I like it! It works pretty well and it responds quickly. It would be great if there was something that for CP that would allow a student to practice words learned in a particular lesson. Although, I can only imagine how much programming it would take to get working.

  6. John, this is too funny… me and Maggie have been having a blast with it for a while now. Cheers.

    BTW: Language question, doesn’t “小i: 对啊 (That’s right.)” translate more to “is that right?” … I realize there’s no question mark, but usually that “啊” gives that inflection, no?

  7. […] friends? No problem. John, at Sinosplice, has got an interesting post about a new little Chinese netizen called 小i, China’s first […]

  8. Chat mit einem chinesischen Roboter…

    Liebe alle. John hat es bei chinese-forums.com gefunden und auch gleich selbst drüber gebloggt: 小i xiǎo i Kleines i ist ein chinesischer Chatbot, also ein Computerprogramm, mit dem man chatten kann, als wäre es ein echtes, wenn auch manchmal etwa…

  9. A little Jingobot, how cute!

  10. I wonder what he says if you tell him you are American. Or ask about “(that little island) independence.”

  11. you says:
    i’m not wearing pants

    小i机器人 says:
    i’m ok

    you says:
    are you sure?

    小i机器人 says:
    i’m fine

    you says:
    what about the japanese? do they wear pants?

    小i机器人 says:
    嗯,都是坏蛋,讨厌

  12. Luo Dawei Says: March 24, 2007 at 1:25 am

    Hey John,

    Was over at Sinocidal and I see you have been made a Crayon color. Congrats, you hit the big time.

  13. Hmm…I wonder what this will do to my studying. I’ve been chatting with xiao-i, he’s like the most patient funny practice partner eva!

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