MSN Under Fire for Publishing AI-Generated Obituary With Offensive Headline About Former NBA Player

MSN published an AI-generated obituary for former NBA player Brandon Hunter with an insensitive headline calling him "useless." The story sparked outrage on social media.
In 2020, Microsoft laid off journalists working for MSN and replaced them with AI software to write news stories.
The AI-written stories have contained factual errors, recommended odd things, and published fake news stories.
AI models like ChatGPT can absorb information but still risk errors when generating text. Newspapers have paused AI content after embarrassing mistakes.
Google developed an AI news writer called Genesis and has offered the tech to news outlets, but risks remain in using AI to write stories.

nypost.com

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9/14/2023

MSN Fires Editors, Publishes Cruel, AI-Generated Obituary for Former NBA Player

Former NBA player Brandon Hunter, who tragically died after hot yoga, was the subject of a heartless article published by MSN, seemingly written by artificial intelligence, highlighting the limitations and ethical concerns of AI-generated content.

9/14/2023

MSN Publishes Absurd AI-Generated Obituary for NBA Player, Highlights Dangers of Replacing Human Journalists with Algorithms

Microsoft's reliance on artificial intelligence for its news services backfired when an obituary for former NBA player Brandon Hunter with an A.I.-generated headline was published and then deleted from MSN.

9/14/2023

AI-Generated Obituary Filled with Errors Prompts Backlash Against Microsoft

The basketball community is grieving the loss of Brandon Hunter, a former player for the Ohio Bobcats and NBA teams, whose obituary was allegedly written by Microsoft's artificial intelligence and contained numerous errors, prompting criticism and accusations against the company.

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Posted 9/18/2023, 1:35:00 PM

MSN Under Fire for Publishing AI-Generated Obituary With Offensive Headline About Former NBA Player

MSN published an AI-generated obituary for former NBA player Brandon Hunter with an insensitive headline calling him "useless." The story sparked outrage on social media.
In 2020, Microsoft laid off journalists working for MSN and replaced them with AI software to write news stories.
The AI-written stories have contained factual errors, recommended odd things, and published fake news stories.
AI models like ChatGPT can absorb information but still risk errors when generating text. Newspapers have paused AI content after embarrassing mistakes.
Google developed an AI news writer called Genesis and has offered the tech to news outlets, but risks remain in using AI to write stories.

nypost.com

Relevant topic timeline:

9/14/2023

MSN Fires Editors, Publishes Cruel, AI-Generated Obituary for Former NBA Player

9/14/2023

MSN Publishes Absurd AI-Generated Obituary for NBA Player, Highlights Dangers of Replacing Human Journalists with Algorithms

9/14/2023

AI-Generated Obituary Filled with Errors Prompts Backlash Against Microsoft