Sunday, 31 May 2020

Microsoft to replace journalists with robots

Tech giant, Microsoft, is reportedly set to replace dozens of contract journalists.

The staff with MSN website will go as the company concludes plans to use automated systems to select news stories.

Currently, the curating of stories from news organisations, selection of headlines and pictures is done by journalists.

Like others, the company pays news organisations to use their content on MSN but employs journalists to decide stories to display.

But soon, artificial intelligence will perform the tasks, Seattle Times reports.

The company has explained that the development was not due to coronavirus.
 


It explained that it was part of an evaluation of its business.

Microsoft said in a statement: “Like all companies, we evaluate our business on a regular basis. This can result in increased investment in some places and, from time to time, redeployment in others. These decisions are not the result of the current pandemic.”

By the end of June, around 50 contract news producers will lose their jobs.

However, full-time journalists will remain.

Twenty-seven of those losing their jobs are

The Guardian reports that 27 of those affected are employed by UK’s PA Media.

“I spend all my time reading about how automation and AI is going to take all our jobs – now it’s taken mine”, one was quoted as saying.

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