Microsoft removes AI-generated article recommending food bank as tourist attraction | outside

Article “Towards Ottawa? This is not to be missed! listed 15 must-see attractions for visitors to the Canadian capital. That list was riddled with errors, and the Food Bank is listed as the third attraction with the odd sentence: “Life is hard enough. Consider entering here on an empty stomach.”

The article also recommended a trip to the Rideau Canal, a historic canal that runs through downtown Ottowa, while a fake photo of the Rideau River is shown above. The list also recommends the annual Winter Festival, which talks about “the biggest snow in North America.” This is very much like an AI misinterpretation. Aside from the article’s many geographic errors and the inexplicable recommendation to fast before going to the food bank, the article also had an unusual writing style.

The article also appeared on MSN UK’s homepage under the heading “Microsoft Travel”. The company has been criticized for relying on artificial intelligence to generate news. According to a Microsoft spokesperson, the blame is not on AI, but it would be “human error”.

Microsoft fired dozens of journalists in 2020 to focus more on AI. These journalists were responsible for selecting content for Microsoft platforms, including MSN and the Edge browser. On the news page itself, there is no indication that the article is the product of artificial intelligence, but the company later admitted that it was generated by algorithms subject to human review. Microsoft points out that it was human judgment that failed, not the algorithm.

The strange article was first noticed by Paris Marx, an author and tech fanatic. “I thought it was funny, but it’s actually kind of grim,” Marks says of the article. “It is just another example of these tools not living up to the claims made.”

Samantha Koziara, director of communications for the Ottawa Food Bank, said in a statement to news site The Verge: “To my knowledge, we’ve never seen anything like this before, but as AI continues to grow in popularity, I have no doubt there will be an increasing number of unauthorized references.” correct or inappropriate to be made in a list of articles like this. This only underscores the importance of researchers, writers, and editors… to the human race.”