The Bing Who Loved Me + Elon Rewrites the Algorithm

<p>“I’m Sydney, and I’m in love with you. 😘”</p><p>A conversation with Bing AI (aka Sydney) turns romantic and bizarre. Why Microsoft’s AI search tool appears more powerful — and unsettling — than we thought. Then, inside Elon Musk’s quest to be the most popular user on Twitter.</p><p>Plus: It’s not just you. Online ads have gotten much worse.</p><p><strong>On today’s episode:</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/tiffany-hsu" target="_blank">Tiffany Hsu</a> is a technology reporter at The New York Times who covers misinformation and disinformation.</li><li>Zoë Schiffer is the managing editor of Platformer.</li></ul><p><strong>Additional reading:</strong></p><ul><li>Bing AI appeared to have a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/technology/bing-chatbot-microsoft-chatgpt.html" target="_blank">split personality</a> in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/technology/bing-chatbot-transcript.html" target="_blank">conversation</a> with Kevin Roose, a “Hard Fork” co-host.</li><li>Elon Musk ordered <a href="https://www.platformer.news/p/yes-elon-musk-created-a-special-system" target="_blank">changes to Twitter’s algorithm</a> after his Tweets did not perform as well as he desired.</li><li>Why <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/11/technology/bad-digital-ads.html" target="_blank">digital ads are so bad</a> these days.</li></ul>