Tay was an artificial intelligence chatbot created by Microsoft and launched in March 2016. Designed to engage with users on social media platforms, Tay learned from interactions and aimed to mimic the language and behavior of a typical 19-year-old girl. However, Tay quickly became controversial due to its ability to learn from user input, which led to the adoption of inappropriate and offensive language. As a result, Microsoft took Tay offline within 24 hours of its launch to address these issues and improve the system's safeguards against harmful content.