Language models generate text based on statistical probabilities. This led to serious false accusations against a veteran court reporter by Microsoft's Copilot.

German journalist Martin Bernklau typed his name and location into Microsoft’s Copilot to see how his culture blog articles would be picked up by the chatbot, according to German public broadcaster SWR.

The answers shocked Bernklau. Copilot falsely claimed Bernklau had been charged with and convicted of child abuse and exploiting dependents. It also claimed that he had been involved in a dramatic escape from a psychiatric hospital and had exploited grieving women as an unethical mortician.

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Bernklau believes the false claims may stem from his decades of court reporting in Tübingen on abuse, violence, and fraud cases. The AI seems to have combined this online information and mistakenly cast the journalist as a perpetrator.

Microsoft attempted to remove the false entries but only succeeded temporarily. They reappeared after a few days, SWR reports. The company’s terms of service disclaim liability for generated responses.

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  • @ravhall
    -4•19 days ago

    Your name cannot possibly be that unique

    • Flying Squid
      14•19 days ago

      Believe what you like, I’m not telling you what it is.

      The Holocaust greatly narrowed my family tree in terms of my last name.

    • tiredofsametab
      2•17 days ago

      I’m one of five in the world with my name so far as any social media or other records has shown. I’m the ONLY one with the same first middle last. It’s certainly possible.