Microsoft lays off journalists to replace them with AI
Microsoft is laying off dozens of journalists and editorial workers at its Microsoft News and MSN organizations. The layoffs are part of a bigger push by Microsoft to rely on artificial intelligence to pick news and content that’s presented on MSN.com, inside Microsoft’s Edge browser, and in the company’s various Microsoft News apps. Many of the affected workers are part of Microsoft’s SANE (search, ads, News, Edge) division, and are contracted as human editors to help pick stories. Robots will now pick news stories for MSN and Microsoft News.
Sad that NASA is taking a back seat to a private company, but still nerding over an American launch of astronauts.
I just found an abandoned blog draft, dated 2011, on economics in early computer games. Published!
I just found a post on economics in early computer games, tucked away as a “Draft” in my WordPress database, dated Jan 2011. I’m not sure why I never published it. The web page I was responding to has disappeared from the Internet, so I’ve linked to the Wayback Archive instead.
Local TV News Stations Present Amazon PR Video as Journalism
About a dozen local TV news stations aired a video segment produced by Amazon. Some identified the source, but most just let TV viewers assume the video was a news story, rather than a PR piece hosted by an Amazon employee. Journalism matters. See Forbes for details on the story.
Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting
Thoughtful essay from Julio Vincent Gambuto. Get ready, my friends. What is about to be unleashed on American society will be the greatest campaign ever created to get you to feel normal again. It will come from brands, it will come from government, it will even come from each other, and it will come from the left and from the right. We will do anything, spend anything, believe anything, just…