Earlier this week, MSN faced backlash for publishing an obituary for former NBA player Brandon Hunter, which was later taken down due to its offensive content. The obituary, believed to be possibly generated by AI, not only carried a derogatory headline but was also fraught with nonsensical and grammatical errors.
The obituary for former NBA player Brandon Hunter, which appeared on MSN, created a stir as it referred to the basketball forward as “useless” in its headline. Although Microsoft, the owner of the news aggregation site, has not officially confirmed the use of AI in generating the content, reports strongly suggest this possibility.
The problematic article didn’t stop at the offensive headline; its content was riddled with issues. It commenced with a sentence that read, “Former NBA participant Brandon Hunter, who beforehand performed for the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic, has handed away at the age of 42, as introduced by Ohio males’ basketball coach Jeff Boals on Tuesday.” This opening contained spelling errors and awkward phrasing, referring to Hunter as an “extremely regarded highschool” basketball player.
The article inaccurately claimed that Hunter had played “67 video games” over two seasons and had achieved a “career-high of 17 factors in a recreation in opposition to the Milwaukee Bucks.” In reality, Hunter tragically passed away after a hot yoga session.
Hunter was initially drafted by the Boston Celtics in 2003 and later played for the Sioux Falls Skyforce before pursuing his career with various European teams and retiring in 2013.
Following public outrage, MSN removed the obituary on Thursday, but Microsoft has yet to apologize for the insensitive content formally.
In response to the controversy, a Microsoft spokesperson told The Independent, “The accuracy of the content we publish from our partners is important to us, and we continue to enhance our systems to identify and prevent inaccurate information from appearing on our channels. The story in question has been removed.”
This incident highlights a sensitivity issue surrounding AI-generated content and recalls the layoff of over two dozen MSN news homepage curators and editors in 2020, who were reportedly replaced by artificial intelligence software, as reported by The Guardian.