KBS used AI-powered real-time translation during live coverage of the Artemis 2 launch that mistranslated aviation terms into profanity, exposing Korean viewers to inappropriate content.
On December 2nd, Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) was broadcasting NASA's live coverage of the Artemis 2 launch using AI-powered automatic real-time translation. During the broadcast, the AI translation system mistranslated aviation technical terms due to phonetic similarities. Specifically, the terms 'roger' (acknowledgment), 'roll', and 'pitch' (adjustment) were incorrectly translated into Korean as 'roger, roll, and a profane term'. This inappropriate translation was displayed as subtitles to viewers watching the live broadcast. The incident quickly spread online, with netizens expressing shock that a publicly-funded broadcaster would display profanity, criticizing the lack of safeguards for live broadcasts. KBS quickly issued an apology on their YouTube community page, acknowledging the AI translation error caused by phonetic similarities. They stated they had completed measures to prevent re-exposure and were working closely with relevant departments and partner companies to strengthen AI profanity filtering and develop improvement measures. The Artemis 2 mission itself launched successfully at 6:35 PM EST on December 1st from Kennedy Space Center in Florida and is scheduled for a 10-day flight before returning to the Pacific Ocean near San Diego.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
AI that exposes users to harmful, abusive, unsafe or inappropriate content. May involve providing advice or encouraging action. Examples of toxic content include hate speech, violence, extremism, illegal acts, or child sexual abuse material, as well as content that violates community norms such as profanity, inflammatory political speech, or pornography.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Unintentional
Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
No population impact data reported.
