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“I’m Sydney, and I’m in love with you. ????”

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.

Plus: It’s not just you. Online ads have gotten much worse.

On today’s episode:

• Tiffany Hsu is a technology reporter at The New York Times who covers misinformation and disinformation.

• Zoë Schiffer is the managing editor of Platformer.

Additional reading:

• Bing AI appeared to have a split personality in a conversation with Kevin Roose, a “Hard Fork” co-host.

• Elon Musk ordered changes to Twitter’s algorithm after his Tweets did not perform as well as he desired.

• Why digital ads are so bad these days.

Credits

“Hard Fork” is hosted by Kevin Roose and Casey Newton and produced by Davis Land. The show is edited by Jen Poyant. Engineering by Alyssa Moxley and original music by Dan Powell, Elisheba Ittoop, Marion Lozano, Sophia Lanman and Rowan Niemisto. Fact-checking by Caitlin Love.

Special thanks to Paula Szuchman, Hanna Ingber, Nell Gallogly, Kate LoPresti and Jeffrey Miranda.