The Guardian reports that an MSN-created poll appeared alongside a story about a young woman’s death, asking readers about their thoughts on the cause of her demise.
Over three years since Microsoft restructured its news divisions, replacing human work with AI and algorithms, content produced by these systems still includes serious errors that human intervention could and should have prevented.
The Guardian Claims that Microsoft Has Caused Reputational Damage
Today, The Guardian alleged that the company tarnished its reputation with a poll marked as “insights by AI.”
This poll was displayed in Microsoft Start alongside a Guardian story about a woman’s death, prompting readers to vote on the cause of her demise.
The Guardian reported that even though the poll had been taken down, the harm had already been inflicted. The poll had asked readers to vote on whether a woman had taken her own life, been murdered, or died accidentally.
Comments on the story from five days ago show that readers were upset, and some evidently held the story’s authors accountable.
Microsoft’s AI-Generated Content Controversies and The Guardian’s Call for Transparency
Back in August, a travel guide on Microsoft Start that appeared to be AI-generated suggested visiting the Ottawa Food Bank in Ottawa, Canada, “on an empty stomach.” Microsoft’s senior director, Jeff Jones, stated that the story wasn’t created solely by generative AI but rather “through a combination of algorithmic techniques with human review.” We contacted Microsoft to gain further insights on this matter.
According to The Guardian, Anna Bateson, the Chief Executive of Guardian Media Group, wrote a letter to Microsoft President Brad Smith. In the letter, she expressed that the “clearly inappropriate” AI-generated poll had resulted in “significant reputational damage” for both the publication and its journalists. She emphasized the “vital role of a robust copyright framework” in allowing journalists to control how their work is presented.
She requested that Microsoft commit to seeking the outlet’s approval before employing “experimental AI technology within or alongside” its journalism and ensuring transparency whenever AI is utilized for such purposes.
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