Is the news article you are reading being written by a person or a bot? This newsletter is being written by a person. Hi Mom!
CNET was recently called out for using bots to write news articles. The articles were attributed to “CNET Money Staff” and had disclosures showing that the article “was generated using automation technology” but “edited and fact-checked” by a person. Readers noticed that the AI had made simple math errors such as the calculation of compound interest.
Is this an ethical quandary or the future of journalism? CNET editor Connie Guglielmo defended this as an “experiment” done in order to “see if the tech can help our busy staff of reporters and editors with their job to cover topics from a 360-degree perspective.”
I would say that given how little the public currently trusts the media, now is not the time for these kinds of experiments.
