(Fox News) The company behind news outlets like Gizmodo and The AV Club came under fire from staff, the union and journalists this week after rolling out artificial intelligence (AI)generated articles filled with blatant falsehoods and haphazardly written sentences.
Last week, it was revealed that G/O Media would begin to publish articles generated by AI. The move was swiftly criticized by the GMG Union, which represents Gizmodo and other news outlets under the G/O banner.
The backlash did nothing to deter G/O Media from moving forward with the new initiative. Social media users and staff met the ensuing articles with derision, as much of the AI-generated content was filled with glaring inaccuracies and amateurish writing.
Gizmodo Deputy Editor James Whitbrook slams G/O Media for the company’s use of AI to generate articles. (James Whitbrook/Twitter Screenshot)
Much of the inaccurate data appeared to stem from the AI being trained on old data from 2021. For example, the piece stated the Yankees were worth an estimated $4.6 billion when today, the franchise is valued at $7.1 billion.
Luke Plunkett, a senior writer for Kotaku, called the article a “simply staggering degree of pointlessness” with repetitive sentences that read like an eight-year-old wrote it.
“It’s WILDLY inaccurate. Just complete dogs–t. Even straight up plagiarizing Forbes’ list would have been preferable, because at least then the numbers would have been right,” he added.
On Wednesday, Gizmodo was ridiculed for posting an AI-generated piece called “A Chronological List of Star Wars Movies & TV Shows” that inaccurately labeled the order of the franchise and included bare-bones descriptions of the films.
A statement put out by the unions representing some employees of G/O Media condemning the company’s rollout of AI-generated content. (GMG Union/Twitter Screenshot )
Later that day, io9 and Gizmodo Deputy Editor James Whitbrook claimed he was only informed of the article 10 minutes before its publication and no one at io9 played a role in editing or publishing the piece. In a statement sent to G/O Media, Whitbrook called the content “embarrassing, unpublishable, disrespectful” of both the audience and the company’s staff.
“That’s the formal part, here’s my own personal comment: lmao, it’s f—ing dogs—t,” Whitbrook wrote in a follow-up tweet.
Following the release of the AI-generated content, GMG Union put out a statement that characterized G/O Media as a company intent on spending less and extracting more, regardless of the impact on quality.
“The hard work of journalists cannot be replaced by unreliable AI programs notorious for creating falsehoods and plagiarizing the work of real writers. Our newsrooms have spent decades building trust with audiences—introducing computer-generated garbage undermines our ability to do our jobs, erodes trust in us as journalists, damages our brands and threatens our jobs,” the statement read in part.
