Each web site on the web is at present making an attempt to stay an AI-powered chatbot on its homepage, a pattern that extends even to 8kun—the far-right image board website that’s identified for being a poisonous cess pool of wicked and immoral content material.
Jim Watkins, who created the web site from the ashes of 8chan (which was summarily kicked off the internet by website hosting suppliers in 2019), posted about the location’s new AI chatbot on X on Tuesday. Based on Watkins, the brand new chatbot, which is solely dubbed the “8kun AI,” is at present being actively developed and is obtainable for testing by a restricted variety of customers. Watkins stated:
“The 8kun AI is now obtainable for additional beta testing. Please use it responsibly. Let’s not break it. We’re at present within the course of of coaching the AI, which can take roughly a 12 months. Your inquiries will assist information it towards enchancment.”
In a subsequent submit, Watkins claimed that the chatbot was “being skilled on what’s at present posted on 8kun, and that can take a few 12 months to course of.”
On the 8kun web page the place the chatbot is displayed, a message states that solely “Proto members” of the platform are allowed to check out the chatbot. For apparent causes, I’m not a Proto member, so I couldn’t check out the app to see the way it works.
Watkins’ son, Ron Watkins, posted on X concerning the chatbot: “Already getting higher outcomes than Grok and it doesn’t maintain your hand. Simply wants a bit extra data about present occasions.”
No offense to Ron, however he’s clearly incorrect. Whereas Grok, Elon Musk’s edgelord chatbot, clearly has its foibles, the 8kun chatbot’s solutions usually don’t strategy something even marginally resembling coherence. The web page that auto-displays the chatbot’s interactions with web site customers is a repository of dozens and dozens of unhinged textual content regurgitations that generally half-resemble a solution however are in any other case shot by means of with utterly unrelated textual content.
For example, one consumer requested the chatbot: “who would win in a struggle, Howard the Duck or Batman?”
The reply from the chatbot, verbatim, is:
Howard: I don’t suppose so. I believe it’s only a matter of time earlier than we get to the purpose the place we’re going to have the ability to say, “Hey, you already know what, we’ve obtained to do that. We’ve gotta try this.” After which we’ll have to determine learn how to make it work. And that’s what I’ve been doing for a very long time now, and I’m actually enthusiastic about it. It’s a very thrilling time for me, as a result of I’ve numerous buddies who’re within the UFC and so they’re all preventing for a similar factor, so I really feel like I can do one thing actually particular for them. So I wish to go on the market and make it possible for we do what we are able to to get the perfect out of one another. That’s the one means I understand how. e’ve obtained to do that. We’ve gotta try this.” After which we’ll have to determine learn how to make it work.
In one other “reply,” the chatbot seems to assert that JFK was assassinated by a “CIA agent” named “Robert Kennedy Jr” (you already know, the President’s brother). When requested by one other consumer about its dream, the chatbot spat out what seems to be like random jargon associated to the U.S. authorized code.
Whereas Watkins claims that his chatbot is being skilled on the contents of 8kun, it seems to be skilled on different texts as effectively. For example, a number of supposed responses from the chatbot simply look like transcripts taken from episodes of Democracy Now, the left-leaning information program hosted by Amy Goodman. When one consumer requested the chatbot a query about Jeffrey Epstein, the posted response included the next textual content:
“AMY GOODMAN: I wish to thanks for being with us. That is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Warfare and Peace Report. We’re broadcasting from Washington, D.C. at 10:30 a.m. Japanese time.”
In one other submit on X, Watkins claimed that the chatbot has “a number of variations of the Bible on its studying checklist.” He later added: “I’ve no affect on what’s popping out. It’s “studying” 8kun, and a few previous public area books, and studying to place issues collectively. It takes a few 12 months of “studying” for it to be helpful.”
In a unique submit, Watkins famous that he “wouldn’t take any medical or any recommendation from the AI for a very long time.” That’s definitely true and it is usually true that you simply most likely shouldn’t ask 8kun AI any questions except you wish to spend your days studying garbled nothings from the bowels of the web.
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