A food bank is often a hot spot for those in need, not a tourist destination for those visiting the area. Microsoft had other ideas when it posted an AI-generate article about the “cannot miss” attractions in Ottawa, Canada, which included the Ottawa Food Bank.
The article, which has since been removed, discussed some of the standard tourist things to do in Ottawa, like attending an Ottawa Senators game or attending the Winterlude festival. It also suggested that visitors stop by the Ottawa Food Bank, a real charitable organization that feeds struggling families.
The article read: “The organization has been collecting, purchasing, producing, and delivering food to needy people and families in the Ottawa area since 1984. We observe how hunger impacts men, women, and children on a daily basis, and how it may be a barrier to achievement. People who come to us have jobs and families to support, as well as expenses to pay. Life is already difficult enough. Consider going into it on an empty stomach.”
The article was generated using artificial intelligence (AI) and is likely the product of a large language model (LLM), a type of AI model trained on a vast scrape of text found on the Internet. While these models can be helpful, they also have their downsides. Clearly, no one fully reviewed the article’s content before publication either.
Since the article has been taken down, Microsoft has released a statement. Microsoft said: “This article has been removed and we have identified that the issue was due to human error. The article was not published by an unsupervised AI. We combine the power of technology with the experience of content editors to surface stories. In this case, the content was generated through a combination of algorithmic techniques with human review, not a large language model or AI system. We are working to ensure this type of content isn’t posted in future.”
Source: https://archive.ph/FGP9q