Microsoft's AI CaptionBot fails to properly caption photos

Microsoft can't seem to catch a break on the artificial intelligence front.

In March, the company had to shut down its teenage artificial intelligence bot, Tay, after she ended up sending out racist tweets and other content on the Internet.

Tay temporarily came back but soon went offline again and made her Twitter page private.

Previously, in 2015, Microsoft guessed how old users were by a picture they uploaded with the #HowOldRobot.

Now, the tech company's latest venture in AI is also having difficulties.

CaptionBot allows users to upload photos, which the bot captions.

On the website, the bot says, "I can understand the content of any image, and I'll try to describe it as well as any human."

It uses computer vision API, natural language, emotion API and Bing image API to caption images, along with years of research by Microsoft.

But it cautions users that it is still learning.

Mashable reported that in one image of President Barack Obama embracing First Lady Michelle Obama, the bot mistakes the first lady for a cellphone.

Movie posters were also a challenge:

Other applications related to CaptionBot are Celebs Like Me, which has also gotten mixed feedback on Twitter, and the aforementioned #HowOldRobot.

Cox Media Group