Comedian Nick Offerman opened up the 20th annual Webby Awards Monday night by comparing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to Microsoft’s now-deactivated famously racist artificial intelligence Twitter bot.
“Microsoft created an AI Twitter user, and within 24 hours it had become virulently racist and sexist,” the Parks and Recreation star and host of the annual ceremony said. “Now it’s the Republican nominee for president.”
Offerman’s dig at Donald Trump was in reference to Microsoft’s artificial intelligence program, named Tay. The software was designed to gain intelligence as users interacted with it. However, as Breitbart News reported, Tay quickly began imitating Twitter trolls’ tweets, including, “The holocaust was made up,” “the Jews did 9/11,” and “I f*cking hate feminists and they should all die and burn in hell.”
Microsoft was forced to apologize for Tay’s racist remarks within 48 hours of launching the artificial intelligence program.
Offerman continued by blasting Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton and lamenting what a “shame” it is that President Obama’s successor won’t be as “cool” and “tech savvy” as he has been.
Obama is “either gonna be replaced by a grandpa who is a racist or a grandma who doesn’t understand how ‘reply all’ works,” Offerman joked.
Toward the end of his set, Offerman recommended that the crowd of internet celebrities enjoy this year’s ceremony, because a Donald Trump presidency could mean the end of the World Wide Web.
“Let’s celebrate these Webbies as if they truly might be our last,” he said. “Because God knows; if Donald Trump becomes president and gets his tiny, tiny hands on our Internet, we may never get to do this again.”
Webby awards, according to the organization’s website, are awarded for “Excellence on the Internet including Websites, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video and Mobile content.”
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson
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