Historical Figures AI-powered chat rapped for false responses

Historical Figures, an AI-powered app that lets people speak to famous figures from the past, sparked controversy when it produced streams of false and offensive information.

Developed by 25-year old Amazon software engineer Sidhant Chadda using OpenAI's GPT-3 large language model as a foundation, the app allows users to chat with over 20,000 virtual personalities, including Jesus Christ, Plato, Princess Diana, Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin.

However, it was found to produce inaccurate and contradictory results, includng former FBI director J Edgar Hoover saying his mother died when he was nine years-old (she lived until she was 78), serial child rapist Jimmy Savile denying ever abusing anyone, virulent anti-Semite Henry Ford claiming he 'does not hate Jewish people' and infamous former Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels claiming he 'did not hate Jews'. Goebbels was a key architect of the Final Solution.

In addition to Goebbels, Historical Figures also let people talk to infamous Nazis Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebels and Heinrich Himmler, amongst other dictators and autocrats. But, unlike the great majority of figures on the app, it was only possible to 'talk' to Hitler et al behind a paywall by 'unlocking them for '500 coins', sparking controversy about Chaddha's perceived monetisation of the Holocaust and hatred.

According to Chaddha, Historical Figures is 'extremely valuable to teachers and students'. But historians slammed it, with one calling it 'vile' and another beseeching Apple to 'remove this trash from the App Store'. 

Another expert said it shouldn't 'go anywhere near a classroom'.