Psychopath AI created through violent images from Reddit

Image: MMIT Norman official website

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained an artificial intelligence to “think” like a psychopath by showing how it captions gruesome images of death and violence taken from Reddit.

Scientists nicknamed the AI “Norman” after the character played by Anthony Perkins in the 1960s Alfred Hitchcock film “Psycho,” according to the study’s official website.

The project made Norman as an AI that could do image captioning. The research team completed Norman’s training on April 1 using image captions from a subreddit dedicated to documenting and observing the disturbing reality of death.

Researchers then had Norman take the Rorschach test, a psychological test where a subject’s perception of inkblots are recorded and analyzed using psychological interpretation. They then compared the results with what a standard AI would see.

In the first inkblot test, the standard AI captioned it as “A group of birds sitting on the top of a tree.” Norman, on the other hand, captioned it with “A man is electrocuted and catches to death.”

Image: MMIT Norman official website

The research team conducted the study to show that AI algorithm could be made biased if the data set used to train the AI is biased. This warns AI researchers to be careful of how they train their AI to produce accurate results.  /ra

RELATED STORIES:

Router malware VPNFilter worse than expected; more brands may be affected

GitLab traffic spikes after news of GitHub purchase by Microsoft

Philippine internet speed grew most among SEA countries in 5 years