“Microsoft’s decision to increasingly rely on the use of automation and artificial intelligence over human editors to curate its homepage appears to be behind the site’s recent amplification of false and bizarre stories, people familiar with how the site works told CNN.”
– Donie O’Sullivan and Allison Gordon
CNN reporting describes a collection of editorial mistakes on the MSN homepage it says was generated by AI tools. A quoted statement from Microsoft says they are “committed to addressing the recent issue of low-quality articles contributed to the feed.”
The high-profile MSN.com site, also called “Microsoft Start,” is the default homepage associated with Microsoft online products; for example, it’s the first page displayed on the Microsoft’s “Edge” web browser.
Microsoft has laid off news editors in favour of automated tools. Microsoft is also a leading proponent of generative AI and the largest investor in OpenAI, creators of the ChatGPT line of AI models as well as DALL–E, an AI-powered image generator.
How Microsoft is making a mess of the news after replacing staff with AI | CNN | November 2, 2023 | by Donie O’Sullivan and Allison Gordon