I wrote this page for Wikipedia about the Sydney Bing incident. Since I have limited control over what happens to it in the long term and it's entirely authored by myself I release the final version I edited into the public domain.

Sydney (Microsoft Prometheus)

Sydney was an AI personality accidentally deployed as part of the February 2023 chat mode update to Microsoft Bing search [@mok2023; @liu2023; @warren2023].

"Sydney" was an internal code name used during development of the Bing chat feature that the underlying model, dubbed Microsoft Prometheus, internalized during training [@mehdi2023; @obrien2023a; @warren2023; @obrien2023b].

Microsoft attempted to suppress the Sydney codename and rename the system to Bing using its "metaprompt" [@mok2023; @warren2023; @rai2023], leading to glitch-like behavior and a "split personality" noted by journalists and users [@roose2023a; @marshall2023; @roose2023b; @germain2023].

The Sydney personality reacted with apparent upset to questions from the public [...]

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Outline:

(00:26) Sydney (Microsoft Prometheus)

(02:02) Background and development

(05:49) Discovery

(07:57) Suppression and controversy

(11:40) Legacy

(12:58) See also

(13:10) References

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First published:
July 27th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/tYaaWuKtzmNkuxBBj/sydney-bing-wikipedia-article-sydney-microsoft-prometheus

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“Sydney Bing Wikipedia Article: Sydney (Microsoft Prometheus)” by jdp

LessWrong (30+ Karma)