Microsoft recently faced criticism for an AI-generated travel article about the nation’s capital, which controversially suggested tourists visit the Ottawa Food Bank.
The recommendation, which ranked third on the list, was placed above attending an Ottawa Senators hockey game and just below visiting the National War Memorial. Thank you, AI overlords. Following the publication of the article, Microsoft swiftly quickly removed it after users spotted it, such as Paris Marx.
Jeff Jones, a senior director at Microsoft, stated to The Verge, “This article has been removed and we are investigating how it made it through our review process.” The article’s removal was further confirmed when attempts to access it resulted in a “page no longer exists” message.
The Ottawa Food Bank, which recently relocated due to an 85% surge in demand since 2019, was taken aback by the recommendation. Samantha Koziara, the food bank’s communications manager, expressed her concerns to The Verge, emphasizing the insensitivity of the AI’s description and the importance of human oversight in content creation.
You can see a full image of the Ottawa Food Bank and the MSN story here at imgur.
This incident underscores the challenges faced by companies like Microsoft, which in 2020, replaced journalists at Microsoft News and MSN with artificial intelligence. It looks like our Skynet AI overlords aren’t perfect just yet.
