South Korean online chatbot suspended for hate speech

The Luda chatbot was rapidly embroiled in a spate of allegations that it used hate speech towards minorities, triggering a controversy that eventually forced the developer to take it offline. — Pixabay

SEOUL: A popular South Korean artificial intelligence-driven chatbot with the persona of a 20-year-old female student was taken down this week after it was accused of bigotry towards sexual minorities, the #MeToo movement and the disabled.

Lee Luda, developed by Seoul-based startup Scatter Lab to operate within Facebook Messenger, became an instant sensation for her spontaneous and natural reactions, attracting more than 750,000 users after its launch late last month.