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Microsoft plans to give journalists the boot and replace them with robots

Published: 05:27 01 Jun 2020 EDT

Microsoft Corporation - Microsoft gives journalists the boot and replaces them with robots

Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) will sack dozens of journalists from its news platform and replace them with automated systems to curate news stories, according to press reports.

The computing giant is planning to use artificial intelligence (AI) to curate stories and headlines on its MSN website as part of the company’s ongoing evaluation of its business.

READ: Microsoft cloud sales get big boost in demand from lockdown workers

Microsoft currently pays news organisations to provide stories and content for its websites, however, it has its own team of journalists to decide which stories are displayed and how they are presented.

Reports have said that up to 50 journalists could lose their jobs as a result of the changes, which come at a particularly bleak time as the wider news industry looks to cut costs across the board.

According to the Guardian, around 27 of those facing the axe are employees of UK firm PA Media, which has a contract with Microsoft.

Microsoft is also not the only technology firm experimenting with using AI to help curate news and save cash, with search engine giant Google, owned by Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), also investing in projects concerned with ‘robot journalism’.

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