These read like a proof of concept for replacing human writers:
Earlier this year, when BuzzFeed announced plans to start publishing AI-assisted content, its CEO Jonah Peretti promised the tech would be held to a high standard.
"I think that there are two paths for AI in digital media," Peretti told CNN. "One path is the obvious path that a lot of people will do — but it's a depressing path — using the technology for cost savings and spamming out a bunch of SEO articles that are lower quality than what a journalist could do, but a tenth of the cost."
[...] Indeed, the first AI content BuzzFeed published — a series of quizzes that turned user input into customized responses — were an interesting experiment, avoiding many of the missteps that other publishers have made with the tech.
It doesn't seem like that commitment to quality has held up, though. This month, we noticed that with none of the fanfare of Peretti's multiple interviews about the quizzes, BuzzFeed quietly started publishing fully AI-generated articles that are produced by non-editorial staff — and they sound a lot like the content mill model that Peretti had promised to avoid.
[...] A BuzzFeed spokesperson told us that the AI-generated pieces are part of an "experiment" the company is doing to see how well its AI writing assistance incorporates statements from non-writers.
The linked article includes many laughable examples of bland and similar phrases in multiple stories published on the site.
Previously: BuzzFeed Preps AI-Written Content While CNET Fumbles
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200 percent BuzzFeed stock rise might signal start of a "pivot to AI" media trend:
On Thursday, an internal memo obtained by The Wall Street Journal revealed that BuzzFeed is planning to use ChatGPT-style text synthesis technology from OpenAI to create individualized quizzes and potentially other content in the future. After the news hit, BuzzFeed's stock rose 200 percent. On Friday, BuzzFeed formally announced the move in a post on its site.
[...] "The creative process will increasingly become AI-assisted and technology-enabled. If the past 15 years of the internet have been defined by algorithmic feeds that curate and recommend content, the next 15 years will be defined by AI and data helping create, personalize, and animate the content itself. Our industry will expand beyond AI-powered curation (feeds), to AI-powered creation (content). AI opens up a new era of creativity, where creative humans like us play a key role providing the ideas, cultural currency, inspired prompts, IP, and formats that come to life using the newest technologies."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Frosty Piss on Tuesday April 04, @08:33PM
And yet these "AI" generated articles are amazingly up to the exact same low standards as their human written dreck.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Mojibake Tengu on Tuesday April 04, @08:38PM (5 children)
Now when communication became a commodity, facts are already precious rare goods.
Only rich enough people will be able to afford the truth.
The rest of the poor will have to accept free AI-generated rubbish junk only.
The edge of 太玄 cannot be defined, for it is beyond every aspect of design
(Score: 4, Insightful) by VLM on Tuesday April 04, @08:45PM (2 children)
Journalism is already like that; this is just replacing the journalists with a very small shell script.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday April 05, @03:26AM (1 child)
It's not all that small.
FWIW, I think this is a GOOD move, but only if the list the "author" right under the headline.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday April 05, @04:42AM
The script itself is small. The datafile and hardware that backs it up is huge.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by SomeRandomGeek on Tuesday April 04, @09:56PM (1 child)
Nope. No truth for anybody. You can't get the truth because the people providing you with information have ulterior motives. Rich people have the same problem, only more so.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 05, @01:58AM
The truth with set you free.