SEATTLE: Dozens of journalists have been sacked after Microsoft decided to replace with them with artificial-intelligence software.

Staff who maintain the news homepages on Microsoft’s MSN Web site and its Edge browser have been told that they will be no longer be required, because robots can now do their jobs.

(Er, that view could change Down Under, at least, following the $721 million cock-up caused by robots working for the Aussie Tax Department – see story, page 1. – Ed.).

Still, in the UK alone, about 27 journalists will lose their jobs in a month’s time after Microsoft decided to stop employing humans to select, edit and curate news articles on its homepages.