News/Journalism
Cosmos Magazine is Slowly Replacing its Writing Staff with AI
AI's silent takeover in journalism: The recent replacement of seasoned freelance writer Mark Pesce with AI-generated content at Cosmos Magazine highlights the growing impact of artificial intelligence on the media industry. Pesce, a long-time contributor to Cosmos Magazine, was abruptly informed in February that no more submissions would be accepted from freelancers. Six months later, Pesce discovered that Cosmos had utilized a grant to develop an AI system capable of generating articles, effectively replacing human writers. The AI system was likely trained on Pesce's previous articles to mimic his writing style, unbeknownst to him or the magazine's editors. Lack of...
read Aug 14, 2024Small-Town Reporter Caught Using AI to Generate Fake Quotes
The use of artificial intelligence to generate fake quotes and content in journalism has raised serious ethical concerns and highlighted the need for clear policies on AI use in newsrooms. AI-generated fake content discovered: A reporter at the Cody Enterprise newspaper in Wyoming was found to have used artificial intelligence to create fake quotes and stories, compromising journalistic integrity and public trust. Aaron Pelczar, the reporter in question, resigned after admitting to using AI in his reporting, with seven of his stories containing AI-generated quotes attributed to six different individuals. The fake quotes were not limited to local sources, but...
read Jul 31, 2024Alt-Weeklies Are Publishing Loads of AI-Generated OnlyFans Clickbait
The once-iconic alt-weeklies are now publishing AI-generated clickbait about OnlyFans alongside their editorial content, marking a troubling trend in the decline of these publications. AI-generated content masquerading as journalism: Several prominent U.S. alt-weekly newspapers, including the Village Voice, LA Weekly, and the Riverfront Times, are running search-engine-optimized listicles about porn performers that appear to be AI-generated: These listicles, which rank pornographic performers by various demographics, are presented as editorial content without any labels indicating they are advertisements or sponsored posts. AI detection startup Reality Defender scanned a sample of these posts and found a "high probability" that they contain AI-generated...
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