Microsoft is Replacing MSN Journalists with Artificial Intelligence

[AleksandarK]

Microsoft is working on bringing the latest artificial intelligence technology everywhere it can, and everywhere when it works. According to a few reports from Business Insider and Seattle Times, Microsoft is working on terminating its contracts with journalists and replacing them with artificial intelligence software. In the period between Wednesday and Thursday of last week, around 50 employees have received the information that their contracts will not be renewed after June 30th. The journalists in question were responsible for Microsoft's MSN Web portal which will now use machine learning (ML) models that will generate news stream. To use ML for an application like this, Microsoft is surely utilizing its Azure infrastructure to process everything in the cloud.

One of the ex-employees has said that the MSN platform has been semi-automated for some time now and that this is a completion of the automation. "Like all companies, we evaluate our business on a regular basis. This can result in increased investment in some places and, from time to time, re-deployment in others. These decisions are not the result of the current pandemic." - said Microsoft spokesman to Seattle Times.


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[Caring1]

MSN journalists have been faking intelligence for years.

 

[Frick]

Meaning: I don't look forward to all AI generated news. Any gone journalist job is a bad thing imo.

 

[lexluthermiester]

This can only result in very bad things.

 

[Joss]

This is scary.
With physical journalists writing we already see a total brainwash from the mainstream media, with Covid and American riots being the most recent examples. With AI we can't even put names and faces on lies.

 

[R0H1T]

Well this is how you kill jobs & bring more ruin to the working class, not to mention make the richest even richer! Expect way more of 2020 repeating in the upcoming decades & I'm not talking about just the epidemic

 

[ARF]

But the artificial intelligence level is very low. Better use humans that can think.

I have read that the robots and artificial intelligence are the way for the demons to enter our dimension.

It's never good to rely on robots for whatever reason.

 

[Chrispy_]

MSN journalists have been faking intelligence for years.

Came here solely to make a snarky comment that even a really bad AI couldn't be any worse than MSN's current journalism.

Unsurprisingly, that's the theme you started the thread off on anyway.

MSN has been a rubbish waste of space that Microsoft have shoved down everyone's throats by default for 25 years. I hope it dies in a fire soon.

 

[Basard]

Well, It's not like we'll notice. We've been getting our news from robots for DECADES!

 

[RedelZaVedno]

Brave new World, where workers are not needed anymore. This is very scary. I work on designing/deploying assembly lines for factories and since Covid-19 hit Europe, we see enormous rise in companies asking us if complete automation of assembly processes would be possible in their case. Usual barrier was the price (worker costing less than automation of a work place) but now they're willing to pay a lot more just to get rid of "human risk factor" (aka workers going on a sick leave). It's scary as if you think about it. What will people do in the near future? These are the places that (used to) create tons of jobs. I think UBI a real possibility or massive riots on the streets in the near future. At least in the West.

 

[windwhirl]

I barely trust some human journalists (the rest are just dumpster fires), but after the Hitler AI on Twitter, I'd rather keep the humans, though.

 

[my_name_is_earl]

With real people, at least you know who's lying to you. With AI, all the blame on a machine. I've seen this coming years when I first saw an article way back when China uses AI for news. Communism is here in the free world.

 

[Mistral]

Probably not much difference. You can hardly be called a journalist if mostly all you do is reactionary opinions to posts on social media.

 

[Dante Uchiha]

It's just started... even jobs that require creative intelligence will be eliminated in favor of maximizing profits and keeping money centralized at the top of the pyramid, generating more hunger and unemployment.

Meh. Humanity always walks to self-destruct.

 

[ARF]

It's just started... even jobs that require creative intelligence will be eliminated in favor of maximizing profits and keeping money centralized at the top of the pyramid, generating more hunger and unemployment.

Meh. Humanity always walks to self-destruct.

Except if we find a way for independence from the "top of the pyramid" and for reorganising how our society functions.
The bad thing is that there are prophets saying this will happen only after a very serious global catastrophe that will enlighten the remaining population.

 

[EarthDog]

I wonder if that would work for here...most of the news is copy/paste from PR anyway.... a simple scrape of the site and Viola!

 

[tomc100]

There are no journalists at MSN or CNN.

 

[EarthDog]

There are no journalists at MSN or CNN.

or Foxnews... let's be real here. All of those are polarizing L or R leaning sites.

 

[Totally]

It's just started... even jobs that require creative intelligence will be eliminated in favor of maximizing profits and keeping money centralized at the top of the pyramid, generating more hunger and unemployment.

Well, otoh, all those journalists who are getting replaced by AI can always learn to code.

 

[AsRock]

But the artificial intelligence level is very low. Better use humans that can think.

I have read that the robots and artificial intelligence are the way for the demons to enter our dimension.

It's never good to rely on robots for whatever reason.

For the most part so is theirs or at least act like it.

or Foxnews... let's be real here. All of those are polarizing L or R leaning sites.

Fox at least doing as much better job and those retards at least.

 

[Chrispy_]

or Foxnews... let's be real here. All of those are polarizing L or R leaning sites.

At the risk of stating the obvious, most of the media in the US is controlled by Murdoch or Sinclair

If you didn't catch this, it's an eye opener. Skip to 18 seconds in if you want the Star Trek: First Contact reference.

 

[Caring1]

At the risk of stating the obvious, most of the media in the US is controlled ....

Most of the media globally is controlled, we are told what they want us to hear.
1984 Newspeak is alive and well.
"The aim of the Party is to control everything. By creating a language like Newspeak, they can control the people."
"Orwell warns the reader that a government that creates the language and mandates how it is used can control the minds of its citizens"

 

[timta2]

They are just going to steal ideas and the work of others, to replace those journalists, like Microsoft has been doing since before it's founding.

 

[mtcn77]

This is scary.
With physical journalists writing we already see a total brainwash from the mainstream media, with Covid and American riots being the most recent examples. With AI we can't even put names and faces on lies.

And here is the scary bit: do you know how it started? When it faked scientific essays. Academia had been pushing their fake literature. This one even surpassed that.

 

[KnightStorm]

Except if we find a way for independence from the "top of the pyramid" and for reorganising how our society functions.
The bad thing is that there are prophets saying this will happen only after a very serious global catastrophe that will enlighten the remaining population.

Well...this is certainly the year for an apocalypse....