Microsoft
“Come on an empty stomach”: AI travel guide recommends feeding the poor as a tourist attraction
The Ottawa Food Bank is the equivalent of German Tafel
© Justin Tang/ / Picture Alliance
More and more articles on the web are being written by artificial intelligence. A travel guide from Microsoft now shows how much this can backfire.
At the latest with the release of ChatGPT, it was clear: artificial intelligence (AI) will play an increasingly important role in our everyday lives. In particular, the so-called generative AI, which automatically creates text or images, is taking the internet by storm. A recent blunder Microsofts now shows why a person should always look over the content again.
Specifically, it’s about a travel guide for Ottawa, Canada, which appeared on Microsoft’s MSN portal. Under the title “Are you going to Ottawa? You shouldn’t miss this” listed the 15 most popular and most beautiful destinations in the Canadian capital. In addition to classic sights such as museums and the Winterlude Festival, there was an embarrassing lapse in third place: In enthusiastic words, the guide recommended visiting the Ottawa Food Bank, the Canadian equivalent of the German Tafel.
Feeding the poor as a tourist attraction
“Life is hard enough,” writes the article accompanying his recommendation. And advises: “Come with an empty stomach.” Although the majority of the text is correct – the short text describes the practice of the food bank to provide people and families in need with food and everyday products – it naturally seems completely out of place in the context of the travel recommendations.
No wonder scoffers quickly found themselves. “Microsoft is really doing well when it comes to AI-supported travel guides,” quipped tech author and AI critic Paris Marx on the short message service X, formerly known as Twitter. “If you visit Ottawa, it highly recommends the Food Bank. And gives great tips for Tourists too.” A short time later, the specialist blog “The Verge” reported on it, citing Marx. Microsoft pulled the ripcord: The article has now disappeared.
Artificial intelligence
Where should the next trip go? According to ChatGPT, these are the ten best holiday countries
Embarrassing mistake
The blunder shows why relying solely on artificial intelligence to create content remains highly risky. The idea is actually understandable: there are tons of materials on the web about popular travel destinations that can be quickly summarized into clear articles with the help of AI. Also at star we were already experimenting with what travel tips an AI would give. However, it is important that the articles are marked as AI-generated – and that they should then be checked again by a human.
The company is now trying to find out for itself whether this happened at Microsoft. “The item has been removed and we are in the process of determining how it got through our review process,” a company spokesman told The Verge.
The fact that the blunder happened to Microsoft of all people is doubly embarrassing for the group. On the one hand, MSN had already started using AI to write texts in 2020 and even fired journalists as a result, so there is enough experience with the topic. On the other hand, Microsoft is considered one of the leading companies in the use of AI: The group is one of the most important investors in the ChatGPT operator OpenAI, uses the chatbot as part of its assistant Bing. Now you are showing your customers why you shouldn’t rely one hundred percent on the AI products.
Sources:Microsoft (via Internet Archive), The Verge, X