MSN's AI obituary: "Brandon Hunter useless at 42"
Microsoft Start published an AI obituary calling a dead NBA player useless
The market's verdict: -5.7% on MSFT in the week after.
What actually happened
In September 2023, days after former NBA forward Brandon Hunter died suddenly at 42, Microsoft's MSN carried an AI-syndicated obituary headlined "Brandon Hunter useless at 42", a machine translation artifact that also claimed he "performed in 67 videogames". This came courtesy of the network Microsoft had staffed with software after firing its human editors in 2020. MSN deleted the obituary, but the AI content engine carried straight on, and its next trick was two months away. The dead man got an apology; the autopilot did not.
This one is well documented.
They did it more than once
Two months after the obituary, the AI learned to ask readers to vote on a cause of death.
Links
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Impact
- Neowin (publication)
↳ caused by MSN AI-syndicated content program
Timeline
- Sep 15, 2023 Stood by it Microsoft stood by it.