"Is it live or is it Memorex?" was an advertising slogan for a line of cassette tapes in the 1970s and '80s, the idea being that the quality of Mermorex was so good that users couldn't distinguish taped material from live.
We should all now be asking a similar question about the news media: "Is it real, or is it artificial intelligence?"
... 90 percent of newsrooms are already using some form of AI in news production, 80 percent in news distribution, and 75 percent in news gathering. News gathering tasks include automated transcription and translation, extracting text from images, and scraping the web or using automated summarization tools. News production could include translating articles into other languages, proofreading, writing headlines, or writing full articles.Distribution includes using AI-driven search engine optimization as well as things like tailoring content to a specific audience. [Emphasis added]
Now, to be completely transparent, PJ Media uses some AI tools to improve efficiency and writing. For example, we often use an AI tool that generates transcripts of speeches and interviews, and we use Grammarly to do our spellchecking. Those are proper uses of AI in a media environment and a far cry from "writing full articles."
Everything changes when media outlets use AI to write their articles, a practice that is on the rise.
NewsGuard claims to have identified "676 AI-generated news and information sites operating with little to no human oversight."
According to The Conversation:
Generative AI is becoming accessible and affordable. This makes it attractive to commercial news businesses, which have been reeling from losses of revenue. As such, we’re now seeing AI “write” news stories, saving companies from having to pay journalist salaries.
In June, News Corp executive chair Michael Miller revealed the company had a small team that produced about 3,000 articles a week using AI.
There's at least one conservative website I know of that is using AI to generate stories. I won't mention the name because it was told to me in a private conversation, but you can bet that if it's happening at one site, it's happening at others. Conservative media producers have had a rough go of it over the last several years. We've seen rampant demonetization, social media censorship, and non-stop bogus fact-checks designed to damage our reputation, so it's not surprising that there are sites out there using AI because they are literally fighting for survival.
My view is that sites using AI to produce stories need to be transparent about it so readers are aware that they are not written by real people.
Going back to my original question: How do you know if it's real or AI? A quick Google search turns up several AI detector programs. We use Copyleaks here at PJ Media (how ironic is it that AI is being used to detect AI?). Yet even with detection tools, this will continue to be a problem because, frankly, who has time to scan every article they read?
Popular sites like Sports Illustrated, Buzzfeed, CNET, and Gannett have all been caught using AI in recent months. The Associated Press admits it uses AI to generate some stories, but it at least lets readers know that AI was used to assist in creating the content.
Congress has been holding what are purportedly hearings on the use of AI, but those have mostly focused on how it can help detect things like deep fakes and keep minors off social media. (Did you know that over 100 congressional offices use AI now?) Not much was accomplished in the hearings amid the shouting and hyperbole designed to get a reaction on Twitter. It seems no one wants to talk about the problem of fake, AI-created news stories.
I can assure you that we still have Real Humans writing our stories at PJ Media. You're not robots, so you shouldn't have to read news and commentary created by AI. You deserve better than what the fake news AI farms are pumping out at a rate no human could possibly keep up with. Yes, writing is hard work, but we believe it's well worth the effort.
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