Popular communication app Discord announced it is shutting down Clyde, its AI chatbot. In a forum post, Discord said Clyde will be deactivated on December 1, 2023 without giving a reason.
Launched in beta in 2021, Clyde utilized AI">OpenAI tools to answer questions and interact on Discord servers where enabled. It aimed to provide automated assistance without human moderators.
Discord has long been a hub for bots, with thousands active across servers today. Clyde represented Discord’s own first-party AI bot experiment.
But its short life span mirrors other chatbots like Microsoft’s Tay and Facebook’s BlenderBot which were shut down quickly due to offensive content.
Discord’s closure of Clyde comes shortly after high-profile AI incidents at Google, Microsoft and Meta raised concerns. It may proactively avoid similar issues hitting Clyde.
The move highlights the challenges of safely deploying AI chatbots given current limitations. Discord appears cautious about avoiding the reputation pitfalls and risks.
