• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back

2

Current price of oil as of June 12, 2026

3

Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning ‘welcomer cities’ into the next big tech towns

1

Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back

2

Current price of oil as of June 12, 2026

3

Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning ‘welcomer cities’ into the next big tech towns
TechMicrosoft

Microsoft Unveils Sarcastic Millennial Chat Bot Powered By Artificial Intelligence

By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
March 23, 2016, 2:46 PM ET
World Economic Forum - 2016
DAVOS 2016; World Economic Forum -- Pictured: Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, takes part in a panel discussion at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 19, 2016 -- (Photo by: David A.Grogan/CNBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)David A.Grogan—CNBC NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

You can thank Microsoft for a new sarcastic millennial who can’t stop cracking jokes on Twitter.

Microsoft’s research arm and Bing search engine business unit released on Wednesday a chat bot named Tay, which is powered by artificial intelligence technologies.

Tay was designed to mimic the linguistic mannerisms of 18- to 24-year-olds on social media platforms. She (as specified by Microsoft) can be found on Twitter (TWTR), GroupMe, and Kik—all social platforms where users can converse with her, prompting Tay to attempt to communicate like an actual human being.

The Windows maker didn’t detail specific types of AI technologies used to produce Tay—only to reveal that she was “built by mining relevant public data and by using AI and editorial developed by a staff including improvisational comedians,” according to a Microsoft (MSFT) blog post.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

Whatever the improvisational comedians contributed to Tay can be felt in the way she converses with strangers on Twitter.

When a Twitter user asked Tay who were her creators, she slyly responded, “Oh a team of scientists in a Microsoft lab. They’re what u would call my parents.”

In the following Twitter thread, Tay can be seen responding to a series of Tweets, intended to demonstrate how fast she can respond to a single person:

TayTweets 1

In this Twitter conversation excerpt, Tay shows off her millennial mischievousness by indicating a fondness for marijuana:

Microsoft Tay 2
Microsoft notes that the public data used to train Tay on language has been anonymized. The more people converse her with, the smarter she will get. Tay will also record the conversations she has with users in order to tailor her speech for specific people, according to the blog post.

Tay follows another Microsoft Research AI-powered chat bot, dubbed Xiaoice, which has been conversing with 15 million Chinese residents via the social network Weibo.

Although these chat bots exemplify how far advanced AI technologies have progressed when it comes to semantics, it’s worth noting that as of now, they are still research projects that may not become actual products worth selling or buying.

For more on Microsoft, watch:

As Microsoft’s head of research Peter Lee explained earlier this month at the Structure Data conference, Microsoft is not ready to integrate the same AI techniques it uses to power Xiaoice into its Cortana voice assistant software.

About the Author
By Jonathan Vanian
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Jonathan Vanian is a former Fortune reporter. He covered business technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data privacy, and other topics.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

More and more of Musk’s companies end up under the same roof. Here’s a look at his sprawling empire
C-SuiteElon Musk
More and more of Musk’s companies end up under the same roof. Here’s a look at his sprawling empire
By The Associated PressJune 13, 2026
2 hours ago
herrin
CommentaryInfrastructure
America just committed $1.2 trillion to fix its infrastructure. We’re still flying blind
By Gregg HerrinJune 13, 2026
5 hours ago
Melinda French Gates’ advice to new IPO millionaires: ‘Give half your money away’
Startups & VentureMost Powerful Women
Melinda French Gates’ advice to new IPO millionaires: ‘Give half your money away’
By Emma HinchliffeJune 13, 2026
6 hours ago
Aravind Srinivas wearing glasses
SuccessBillionaires
CEO of $20 billion AI firm Perplexity says the secret to success is ‘sleeping with that fear’ that your competitor will steal your idea
By Preston ForeJune 13, 2026
6 hours ago
cyber
Commentarycyber
Accenture cyber leads: why hiring more people won’t solve the cybersecurity talent gap
By Harpreet Sidhu and Vikram DesaiJune 13, 2026
6 hours ago
t
CommentaryHospitality
AI is making promises your brand never made. Hotels are paying the price
By Teresa MackintoshJune 13, 2026
6 hours ago

Most Popular

Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back
Environment
Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back
By Catherina GioinoJune 9, 2026
4 days ago
Current price of oil as of June 12, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 12, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 12, 2026
1 day ago
Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning ‘welcomer cities’ into the next big tech towns
Real Estate
Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning ‘welcomer cities’ into the next big tech towns
By Sydney LakeJune 13, 2026
6 hours ago
American taxpayers have spent $33 billion on sports stadiums. They got fewer seats—and higher prices
Success
American taxpayers have spent $33 billion on sports stadiums. They got fewer seats—and higher prices
By Catherina GioinoJune 11, 2026
2 days ago
U.S. energy secretary says 7 million barrels of oil exiting Persian Gulf daily, but Chevron CEO rebuts the claim
Energy
U.S. energy secretary says 7 million barrels of oil exiting Persian Gulf daily, but Chevron CEO rebuts the claim
By Jordan BlumJune 12, 2026
20 hours ago
Anthropic disables Fable and Mythos AI models after U.S. government bars it from giving foreigners access
AI
Anthropic disables Fable and Mythos AI models after U.S. government bars it from giving foreigners access
By Jeremy KahnJune 13, 2026
11 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.