Last week we revealed Microsoft is replacing its human news editors with artificial intelligence software. A week later the robot journalist is facing accusations of racism after it confused different mixed-race members of Little Mix. https://t.co/KkKDZqpHWu

— Jim Waterson (@jimwaterson) June 9, 2020

The humans supervising the racist robots have been told the racist robots may try and write stories about how they’re racist, and if they do, the humans are to intervene to stop it https://t.co/U4vjDxKyTh pic.twitter.com/ckrYrPdvbF

— alex hern (@alexhern) June 9, 2020

You can try to explain what satire is, or you can just wait for actual events and point at them and say "if a fiction writer had come up with this, say." https://t.co/IIk9UIJTrL

— Linda Holmes Thinks You're Doing Great (@lindaholmes) June 9, 2020

'The remaining human staff have been told to stay alert and delete a version of this article if the robot decides it is of interest and publishes it ... even if they delete it, the robot editor may overrule them and attempt to publish it again' LOLhttps://t.co/SGJrVvZhMJ

— Toby Moses (@tobymoses) June 9, 2020

MSN uses algorithm to select news articles; editorial algo has racist bias; The Guardian reports it; Microsoft’s response is to try to censor their reporting:

Microsoft then continues with plan to fire human staff, replace with racist AI.

Nicely played.https://t.co/4nzDjHbBnx

— Charlie Stross (@cstross) June 9, 2020

You know it’s the future when you have to battle the racist AI who’s stealing your job. https://t.co/518IBVQb7k

— Kelly Digges (@kellydigges) June 9, 2020

The algorithm is just as racist as the humans and now it’s gonna be the scapegoat https://t.co/XcF9Qhvi5C

— ???Rap Game Gorgon ??? (@Blackamazon) June 9, 2020

The thing about AI is it just reproduces the biases, prejudices and structures of power within the society it emerges from and I wish this was at the forefront of conversations about AI - along with an acceptance that technology is *not* amoral. https://t.co/FDJjlDZh55

— Heather Parry (@HeatherParryUK) June 9, 2020

2020 update: The robots are taking over, and they’re already racist https://t.co/r06KGThZjy

— Rob Sheridan #BLM (@rob_sheridan) June 9, 2020

No longer science fiction. https://t.co/54pRuQQm2H

— Ste Pickford (@stepickford) June 9, 2020

If any screenwriter is looking to pitch a Black Mirror spec script... https://t.co/WTin3PS3J1

— Nick Mitchell (@NickMitchell) June 9, 2020

Our episode of Black Mirror still sucks, but I will give it points for creativity. https://t.co/kFmyPg8lWD

— (((Not Jon Cheever))) (@jshieber) June 9, 2020

I think we really need a better word than robot here. Robot assigns too much agency and capability. Excel formula?

Because then it'd be clear there's no such thing as a racist excel formula, just a racist person who writes formulas. https://t.co/Esjgeh21gL

— Ketan Joshi (@KetanJ0) June 9, 2020

Last month ⁦@Microsoft⁩ fired hundreds of journalists in the middle of a pandemic & fully replace them with an AI software. It backfired as their AI cannot tell mixed-race individuals apart. ??‍♀️ https://t.co/iW0EjJH1ZE

— ????? ??????? (@ayshardzn) June 9, 2020

For journalists who thought that pissing off woke colleagues was their biggest worry, meet your new robot overlords: "Even if they delete it, the robot editor may overrule them and attempt to publish it again." https://t.co/xxFZk7d5VP

— Nick Gillespie (@nickgillespie) June 9, 2020

This is why AI obsession sucks. If humans are struggling with the nuances of race & language, why would robots be able to get it right? The people programming these algorithms come from non-diverse backgrounds and it’s gonna SHOW itself in so many stupid ways https://t.co/4lg95M53kI

— Signe Pierce (@sigggnasty) June 9, 2020

“Staff have already had to delete coverage criticising MSN for running the story about Little Mix with the wrong image after the AI software decided stories about the incident would interest MSN readers” https://t.co/a0aTQ75JXN

— Jess Brammar (@jessbrammar) June 9, 2020

"Because they are unable to stop the new robot editor selecting stories from external news sites, human staff have been told to stay alert and delete a version of this article if the robot decides it is of interest and automatically publishes it" https://t.co/fTUjJrsZsS

— Mathew Ingram (@mathewi) June 9, 2020

Newspaper is trolling newspaper with racist robot by publishing article about how racist robot is publishing articles about racist robots in the hopes that racist robot will republish racist robot article. https://t.co/M6RsBWPD8S

— Hannah (@hannahcancode) June 9, 2020

What if I, Robot but journalism? https://t.co/Q7j3ZvhlEK

— Greg Jenner: 'DEAD FAMOUS OUT NOW!' (@greg_jenner) June 9, 2020

Staff at MSN have also been told to await the publication of this Guardian article and try to manually delete it from the website, because there is a high risk the Microsoft robot editor taking their jobs will decide it is of interest to MSN readers. https://t.co/KkKDZqpHWu

— Jim Waterson (@jimwaterson) June 9, 2020

Microsoft’s AI editor uses photo of wrong mixed-race popstar in story about racism (story by @thomas_macaulay) https://t.co/x5rHSQlnId

— TNW (@thenextweb) June 9, 2020

The bot is made by humans — flawed humans socialized in a racist world

AI is not the answer. There is no such thing as objective tech

And none of this is surprising https://t.co/0LWxxLRsoK via @Verge

— Arielle Duhaime-Ross (@adrs) June 9, 2020

Microsoft’s AI journalists confuse mixed-race Little Mix singers on MSN homepage https://t.co/Mi5ipxKTJV pic.twitter.com/2KA3VdYgpm

— The Verge (@verge) June 9, 2020