« Nobody wants low-quality content »: Microsoft's CEO on a crusade against mediocre AI-generated content.

Generative AI has (possibly) advantages, but also significant problems. Among them is the creation of low-quality content, such as most images and videos generated with this technology, or even outright misleading. The term "AI slop" is becoming part of common vocabulary so much so that the major players in AI, such as Meta and OpenAI, are persistently pushing it into their services.

Microsoft's AI can make mistakes

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, identified this problem. Since the beginning of the year, he has launched a crusade against AI slop, which is quite ironic given that Copilot is one of the main providers of these subpar contents. "We are starting to make a distinction between the 'show' and the 'substance'," he said in January, asking that the term "AI slop" be stopped from being used.

This week, the same message was repeated during the London tour of the leader to promote Microsoft's AI solutions. "No one wants something half-baked [slop] when it comes to AI-generated content," he said in front of IT professionals. Satya Nadella mentioned AI assistants, agents, and "augmented work."

But behind the well-rehearsed demonstrations, such as generating Excel tables, automated test plans for websites, and assistants capable of chaining tasks, Microsoft has emphasized a more cautious message. Multiple times, the screens of the keynote clearly stated that the results produced by Copilot "use AI" and that one must "check for errors." It's because the tool can indeed make mistakes. Although AI may speed up work, it's not wise to take it at face value!

Microsoft's small tune against AI slop was also heard during the transition of power between Phil Spencer, the former head of the Xbox division, and his successor Asha Sharma. She explicitly announced that there was no intention to flood future Xbox games with AI slop, AI-generated content. « Games are and will remain works of art, shaped by humans, and created through the most innovative technologies we make available to them », she added.

The speech aims to be reassuring, but actions will count more than words. This especially since AI slop has already made its appearance in several games Call of Duty, property of Microsoft.

👉🏻 Follow real-time tech news: add 01net to your Google sources, and subscribe to our WhatsApp channel.

Source : The Register