AI software at Microsoft’s MSN misidentifies mixed-race Little Mix singers, report says
A robot editor at MSN.com has reportedly confused mixed band members Leigh-Anne Pinnock (center right) and Jade Thirlwall (far right) from British pop group Little Mix.
Small mix
Microsoft MSN.com is criticized afterwards artificial intelligence The software used to perform some of the news and search page tasks has reportedly struggled to distinguish between two mixed band members from British pop group Little Mix. The confusion reported comes after Microsoft replaced several human journalists with AI editors last month.
The Guardian discovered this Instagram Stories post from Thirlwall.
The guard
According to a Tuesday report in The Guardian, MSN.com’s AI software has decided to republish and republish a story originally published by The Independent about Little Mix singer Jade Thirlwall and her experience of racism. But instead of illustrating the story with a picture of Thirlwall, the AI software used a picture of bandmate Leigh-Anne Pinnock. Both Thirlwall and Pinnock are colored women.
“@MSN, if you want to copy and paste articles from other accurate media, you may want to make sure you use an image of the correct mixed race member of the group,” Thirlwall said in an Instagram Stories post from The Guardian. “This shit happens to @leighannepinnock and me all the time that it has become a joke … It offends me that the two colored women couldn’t be distinguished from four members of a group … DO BETTER!”
A Microsoft spokesman said the wrong image was fixed once the company became aware of the problem. The spokesman would not say whether AI software is responsible for the error.
AI journalists are reported to work similarly to their human counterparts, including detecting trend news, changing headlines, finding story photos, and managing the website’s editorial calendar.
CelebrityAgent, the talent agency that represents Thirlwall, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Studies have shown that Face recognition systems have a harder time identifying women and dark-skinned peopleA situation that has raised concerns among right-wing groups, legislators and others.
