SEATTLE – Microsoft cut dozens of full-time
staffers from its MSN news service, many of them in senior positions,
in a move further away from human editors and toward using artificial
intelligence to curate stories.
The move comes six weeks after the Redmond, Washington-based technology
giant told about 50 news production contractors they would not be
kept on by MSN beyond June 30. Full-time employees were spared from
those cuts, but some MSN workers who were let go said domestic
staffers and others globally were informed by conference calls Monday
that, effective immediately, their services were no longer needed.
A Microsoft spokesperson acknowledged the company eliminated "a small
number" of roles Monday across various departments, including MSN,
but would not provide specific numbers. The spokesperson said the
cuts are part of a redeployment of resources the company typically
engages in during its new fiscal year - which began July 1 - and that
it remains committed to news and content and MSN as a business moving
forward.
One former employee cut Monday said the moves dramatically reduced
the number of human editors handling content curation for the site.
There are still some employees overseeing the MSN.com homepage, the
former staffer added, but mainly to avoid further gaffes like the one
early last month right after the contractor cuts. The Guardian
reported that the company's AI software confused two mixed-race
singers from the British band Little Mix - using the photograph of
Leigh-Anne Pinnock to illustrate a story about Jade Thirlwall and her
personal reflections on racism.
Thirlwall quickly voiced her displeasure on Instagram. "@MSN If
you're going to copy and paste articles from other accurate media
outlets, you might want to make sure you're using an image of the
correct mixed race member of the group," she wrote, adding: "It
offends me that you couldn't differentiate the two women of colour
out of four members of a group ... DO BETTER!"
Founded in 1995 as Microsoft Network, MSN since 2014 has moved away
from original newsgathering, partnering instead with other news sites
and paying them to redistribute their content. Curating the stories
instead of generating them made it easier for Microsoft to shift away
from human editors and to the algorithms.