Computer bots too have fights like humans

London: "Benevolent bots" that are designed to improve articles on Wikipedia -- just like humans -- have online "fights" over content that can continue for years, researchers have found.

Commonly known as software robots, editing bots on Wikipedia undo vandalism, enforce bans, check spelling, create links and import content automatically.

Other bots can mine data, identify data or identify copyright infringements.

The team observed how they interacted on 13 different language editions over 10 years (from 2001) and found that bots interacted with one another, whether or not this was by design. It led to unpredictable consequences.

The research paper, published in PLOS ONE, said bots appear to behave differently in culturally distinct online environments but "are more like humans than you might expect".

It is a warning to those who use artificial intelligence for building autonomous vehicles, cyber security systems or for managing social media.

Although bots are automations that do not have the capacity for emotions, bot to bot interactions are unpredictable and act in distinctive ways.