BuzzFeed is Quietly Publishing Whole AI-Generated Articles, Not Just Quizzes
fliptop writes:
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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