Taylor Swift Once Threatened Microsoft Over Artificial Intelligence Named ‘Tay’
As Scooter Braun learned the hard way, Taylor Swift does not take control of her career lightly, which is apparently a lesson Microsoft also learned.
A new book called “Tools and Weapons” by Brad Smith, the president of one of the world’s largest tech company has become a surprising source of how Taylor threw her legal weight around.
Back in 2016, Microsoft announced plans to bring an artificial intelligence chatbot to the United States after massive success in China.
The Chinese version of the chat bot is called XiaoIce and was designed to have conversations on social media with people. The Chinese market quickly took to the chatbot and Microsoft planed to introduce the technology to the US market under the name of Tay.
That’s when Swift, who believes Tay is synonymous with her brand, took issue with the plan and had her lawyers sent a message to Microsoft’s legal team.
Smith’s book detailed the event when he received notice that Swift was not happy,
“I was on vacation when I made the mistake of looking at my phone during dinner. An email had just arrived from a Beverly Hills lawyer who introduced himself by telling me, “We represent Taylor Swift, on whose behalf this is directed to you.”... He went on to state that “the name ‘Tay,’ as I’m sure you must know, is closely associated with our client.”... The lawyer went on to argue that the use of the name Tay created a false and misleading association between the popular singer and our chatbot, and that it violated federal and state laws.”
Smith than detailed that although the Microsoft lawyers disagreed with Swift’s legal letter, they decide to explore different names.
The settled with the name Zo but not many people are aware of Zo.
By the way, it did not take long for the Artificial Intelligence, Tay to become a fountain for hate when it was introduced to twitter.
Tay’s twitter account was eventually shut down and Microsoft settled with the name Zo but not many people are aware of Zo.
