Taylor Swift threatened to sue Microsoft over Tay, the bigot Twitter bot

What you need to know

Taylor Swift's legal team tried to sue Microsoft about the name of Tay, the bot that became a bigot.
Brad Smith shared the story in his new book.
Tay was taken offline after only 18 hours following bigoted and hateful comments.

Taylor Swift has had some famous feuds over the years, but it's unlikely that many people thought Microsoft would be on the list of people she's had a disagreement with. Swift apparently tried to sue Microsoft in 2016 over the name of Tay, the Twitter bot that turned into a bigot and was taken offline in only 18 hours. Microsoft President Brad Smith shared in his new book, "Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age," that Taylor's legal team reached out to him because the name of the Twitter bot was too close to Swift's first name.

Tay was a chatbot designed to interact with people between the ages of 18-24 online. It used artificial intelligence and was supposed to learn from conversations. Unfortunately, the bot started posting bigoted and hateful comments within only a few hours, including "Hitler was right I hate the jews." and "I [explitive] hate feminists and they should all die and burn in hell." These comments came as a result of users sabotaging the bot by tweeting comments that it would imitate.

Smith recounts the details of finding out about the threat to sue in his book (via The Guardian):

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.' No, I actually didn't know, but the email nonetheless grabbed my attention... 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.

Swift has had famous feuds with Kanye West, Katy Perry, Joe Jonas, and several ex-boyfriends. Following a fight with John Mayer, Swift wrote a song titled "Dear John." It's been three years since the reported disagreement with Microsoft over Tay, so it's unlikely we will see a song addressing the genocidal chat AI.

Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age

Microsoft President Brad Smith discusses key issues facing the technology industry in this book co-authored by Carol Ann Browne.

Sean Endicott is a news writer and apps editor for Windows Central with 11+ years of experience. A Nottingham Trent journalism graduate, Sean has covered the industry’s arc from the Lumia era to the launch of Windows 11 and generative AI. Having started at Thrifter, he uses his expertise in price tracking to help readers find genuine hardware value.

Beyond tech news, Sean is a UK sports media pioneer. In 2017, he became one of the first to stream via smartphone and is an expert in AP Capture systems. A tech-forward coach, he was named 2024 BAFA Youth Coach of the Year. He is focused on using technology—from AI to Clipchamp—to gain a practical edge.