Now we know why Bill Gates is worried about AI...

Microsoft's AI chatbot Tay turns into a Hitler-loving Trump supporting racist within a day...

It's the laugh-out-loud news of the day, but oddly doesn't show much AI progress since ELIZA.

It does show up the core dilemma with AI though. Do we trust it, or do we control it by inhibiting it? As there'll come a time when we don't understand what it's doing but not be able to see it's so obviously not optimal.

NZ flag staying the same for now.

The vote in the New Zealand flag referendum was totaled up yesterday and the result was 46% to 54% in favour of the current flag.

I'm reasonably happy with this, as my support for the alternative flag had gone from luke-warm to not really the more I got used to it. The high vote for it shows there is support for change though, so a design New Zealanders really liked would probably get the nod.

Perhaps the most telling vote against it was from the Maori electorates, which was in the 70 to 80 percent range in favour of the status-quo...

http://www.newshub.co.nz/politics/maori-sent-ringing-endorsement-of-current-flag-2016032518

There's no Maori motifs in either flag, but obviously there should be in any new flag, and not just because of the partnership the country's founded on, but also because of the strong graphic design tradition in Maori culture. Hopefully when the flag eventually is changed, that'll be where the design comes from. (Expect it to change when NZ finally becomes a republic.)