Fable, a popular book app, has apologized for its AI-generated annual roundups that some users found offensive due to racist, sexist, and ableist remarks. The app attempted to use AI to 'playfully roast' its readers, but the results veered into inappropriate territory. Users shared screenshots of summaries that made offensive comments about their race, gender, and disability. Fable has temporarily removed the 'playful roast' feature and is working on revising its AI model.
The popular book app Fable has come under fire for its AI-generated annual roundups, which some users say gave them offensive messages about race and gender. These days, every app imaginable is deploying its own take on the wildly popular Spotify Wrapped feature by providing personalized end-of-year recaps for users' consumption habits. Hopping on the trend, Fable tried to stand out by using AI to 'playfully roast' its readers.
In some cases, however, the AI veered into overly edgy territory — in what appears to be an all-too-common case of a large language model defying its guardrails. The summary for Fable user Tiana Trammell, for example, praised her for being a 'soulful explorer' of 'Black narratives,' before about-facing completely: 'Don't forget to surface for the occasional white author, okay?' Trammellcalled him a 'diversity devotee' and asked if he's 'ever in the mood for a straight, cis white man's perspective.' Trammell says she's also seen other people whose summaries snidely commented on 'disability and sexual orientation.' It's unclear how widespread these cases were. But Fable has responded to the complaints by issuing a formal apology. 'To our community: we are deeply sorry for the hurt caused by some of our Reader Summaries this week,' the company posted on Threads. 'We promise to do better.' What 'doing better' looks like, if you're wondering, is tinkering with its AI model. 'For the time being, we have removed the part of the model that playfully roasts the reader, and instead, the model simply summarizes the user's taste in books,' Kimberly Marsh Allee, Fable's head of community, told. 'This 'apology' on Threads comes across as insincere, mentioning the app is 'playful' as though it somehow excuses the racist/sexist/ableist quote
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