Fable\'s AI-powered Highlights Stir Controversy
Fable, a cherished social network that caters to avid readers and entertainment enthusiasts, unexpectedly created a stir with its end-of-2024 summary - an AI-driven round-up of books consumed by its users. Notably, a seemingly light-hearted feature meant to amuse has been perceived as insultingly provocative.
Consider Danny Groves, a celebrated author who was branded a "champion of diversity", and was then asked about his interest in the viewpoint of a "heterosexual, cisgender white male". Equally puzzling was popular books influencer Tiana Trammell\'s summary, which advised her not to overlook the occasional white author.
Trammell, taken aback by the discovery, wasn’t the only one to voice their bewilderment. According to her, several other users found that their recaps were laced with inappropriate comments concerning “disabilities and sexual orientation”.
The Trend of AI-Generated Summaries
Following the trail of Spotify Wrapped, end-of-year recaps have become a common sight across various platforms. These snapshots succinctly package the activities of users - the books read, articles perused, songs played, and workouts accomplished throughout the year. Leading players, including Spotify, now deploy AI to accumulate and present these statistics.
In an attempt to keep pace, Fable made use of OpenAI’s API for summarizing its users’ reading activity over the past year. Little did they expect for the AI to generate remarks congruent with a contentious anti-woke critic.
Zenith of Controversy - Fable\'s Public Apology
Following the backlash, Fable extended an immediate apology on various social platforms. The company expressed deep regret over the upsetting Reader Summaries and pledged to rectify matters.
Prior to this controversy, WIRED had spoken to Fable’s Head of Community, Kimberly Marsh Allee. Allee stated that an array of enhancements were in the pipeline to better the AI summaries, including an option for users to opt-out and increased transparency regarding the AI origin of the summaries.
In the aftermath, it was revealed that Fable chose to withdraw the AI-drafted 2024 reading summaries alongside two other AI-enabled features.
The Aftermath and Moving Forward
However, the improvements proposed by Fable did not suffice for some users. A.R. Kaufer, a well-known fantasy and romance author, expressed dissatisfaction over the company's response and deleted her account. Trammell and Groves followed suit, choosing to abandon the app. Groves suggested that such individual reader summaries could be foregone to avert further confrontations with unchecked AI that might offend.
It seems that generative AI tools have been prone to prejudice-induced errors previously as well, thus leading to an air of skepticism around such technology.
Updated 1/3/25 5:44pm ET: Post-publication, it has been clarified that Fable decided to switch off multiple AI-powered features instantaneously.
