Microsoft Takes Down a String of Embarrassing Travel Articles Created With 'Algorithmic Techniques'

Microsoft took down a string of articles published by "Microsoft Travel" last week that included a bizarre recommendation for visitors to Ottawa to visit the Ottawa Food Bank and to "consider going into it on an empty stomach." From a report: The now-deleted article that included that recommendation -- "Headed to Ottawa? Here's what you shouldn't miss!" -- went viral after writer Paris Marx shared it as an example of an AI flop. The online chatter about the article, and the clearly offensive nature of the food bank recommendation, prompted Microsoft to issue a statement. The statement blamed a human. "This article has been removed and we have identified that the issue was due to human error," a Microsoft spokesperson said. "The article was not published by an unsupervised AI. We combine the power of technology with the experience of content editors to surface stories. In this case, the content was generated through a combination of algorithmic techniques with human review, not a large language model or AI system. We are working to ensure this type of content isn't posted in future." It wasn't the AI that was the problem, it was the human. There was a "content editor" and they made a mistake. We all make mistakes, right? I might be more persuaded by that stance if that article, however egregious it was, were the only one. In fact, it was not. There were at least a handful of articles that made equally absurd if less offensive travel recommendations.

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