Human Beings Are Still Better than Bots

Two weeks ago, I reported on a decision by the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) to replace its Helpline, staffed by actual human beings, including six recently-unionized workers, with an AI bot named Tessa. 

Tessa has been unplugged.

As Chris Morris reports in Fortune, NEDA took down the bot after receiving complaints that it was responding in ways that promote eating disorders.  NEDA, which really needs to do some soul-searching, first responded by claiming on social media that the reports were a lie.  However, once it saw evidence of the “lie” in the form of screenshots, it shut down the bot and launched an investigation — or so it says.  I’ll have to see screenshots to believe it.  

In related news, today I beat the Wordle Bot.  It’s a sore loser and protests that my third guess was lucky.  Hey, Wordle Bot, you have ONE JOB!