Earlier right now, we published a story about Microsoft’s MSN information portal syndicating a garbled, seemingly AI-generated article in regards to the latest, tragic loss of life of former NBA participant Brandon Hunter.
The article, which was put collectively by a publication known as Race Observe, accused Hunter of being “ineffective at 42,” the possible results of an algorithm plagiarizing a TMZ Sports activities weblog on the topic — whereas making an absolute mess of the supply within the course of.
Now, whereas MSN has but to answer our preliminary request for remark, it seems to have taken down the offending article, alongside a number of different Race Observe articles recognized by Futurism. The deleted articles embrace a latest piece about Kevin Porter Jr’s arrest for domestic violence and one other particularly egregious piece about “Hall of Fame” soccer participant “Pleasure Taylor,” possible a deeply confused reference to NFL Corridor of Famer Pleasure Taylor.
Regardless of MSN taking down the articles, Race Observe continues to be publishing a barrage of barely intelligible gibberish — and MSN retains syndicating them. Simply an hour earlier than press time, the shadowy publication published a story titled “7 Causes to Attempt {Golfing} as a Scholar,” which seems to be a ripoff of a 2022 article put collectively by Golf Month-to-month.
One other unintentionally hilarious article about Components 1 driver Sergio Perez claims he is on crew “Purple Bull,” quite than Crimson Bull.
It is not the primary time Microsoft has been caught publishing lazy, AI-generated content material by its information portal. For example, MSN published and then deleted a similarly incoherent AI-generated travel guide for Ottawa, Canada final month that beneficial vacationers go to an area meals financial institution.
In different phrases, we’re not speaking about one-off examples of incoherent articles hitting mainstream information websites. By treating the difficulty as a sport of whack-a-mole — deleting particular articles as they’re found by publications like Futurism and The Verge — MSN is clearly failing to handle the foundation reason for the difficulty.
Because of this, there is a good likelihood we’ll see extra nonsensical, AI-generated articles slipping by the cracks, particularly within the absence of an efficient, systematic strategy to content material moderation. We’ll be watching.
Extra on the story: Microsoft Publishes Garbled AI Article Calling Tragically Deceased NBA Player “Useless”