{"id":30130,"date":"2016-11-18T12:52:10","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T17:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=30130"},"modified":"2016-11-18T12:52:10","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T17:52:10","slug":"chatbots-mess-up-the-facts-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=30130","title":{"rendered":"Chatbots mess up the facts of life"},"content":{"rendered":"

The purpose of the chatbots was to rant, confuse people or muddy discussions on Twitter in the days before the election, an Oxford University report found.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Source: Automated Pro-Trump Bots Overwhelmed Pro-Clinton Messages, Researchers Say – The New York Times<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

And it begins:<\/p>\n

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 An automated army of pro-Donald J. Trump chatbots overwhelmed similar programs supporting Hillary Clinton five to one in the days leading up to the presidential election, according to a report published Thursday by researchers at Oxford University<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The chatbots \u2014 basic software programs with a bit of artificial intelligence and rudimentary communication skills \u2014 would send messages on Twitter<\/a> based on a topic, usually defined on the social network by a word preceded by a hashtag symbol, like #Clinton.<\/em><\/p>\n

Their purpose: to rant, confuse people on facts, or simply muddy discussions, said Philip N. Howard, a sociologist at the Oxford Internet Institute<\/a> and one of the authors of the report. If you were looking for a real debate of the issues, you weren\u2019t going to find it with a chatbot.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re yelling fools,\u201d Dr. Howard said. \u201cAnd a lot of what they pass around is false news.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

My bolding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The purpose of the chatbots was to rant, confuse people or muddy discussions on Twitter in the days before the election, an Oxford University report found. Source: Automated Pro-Trump Bots Overwhelmed Pro-Clinton Messages, Researchers Say – The New York Times … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1095,1175],"tags":[1096,1176],"class_list":["post-30130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-the-facts-of-life","tag-politics","tag-the-facts-of-life"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t