BuzzFeed is now publishing AI-Generated articles

Take a look at the future of "news":
BuzzFeed Is Quietly Publishing Whole AI-Generated Articles, Not Just Quizzes

Here is a summary, courtesy of ChatGPT:

• BuzzFeed began publishing AI-assisted content, initially focusing on quizzes and promising high-quality content.
• BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti initially criticized the idea of using AI for cost savings and generating low-quality content.
• Recently, BuzzFeed quietly started publishing fully AI-generated articles, mostly SEO-driven travel guides.
• These AI-generated articles contain repetitive and bland content, with several recurring phrases and themes.
• The AI-generated travel guides are attributed to "Buzzy the Robot," with a note indicating collaborative writing with a human employee.
• Human collaborators are non-editorial staff from domains like client partnerships, account management, and product management.
• A BuzzFeed spokesperson stated that the AI-generated pieces are part of an experiment to test AI writing assistance with non-writers.
• These AI-generated articles seem like a proof of concept for the content mill model that Peretti initially criticized.

Should we look into using AI-generated content for AF? News summaries? Automatic replies to people posting? Helping recommend apps to people? What are your ideas for using AI on AF or are you against it altogether?

 

[Dannydet]

Rob, I'd say keep AI out of it altogether.

This is where it's getting weird, not just here but everywhere.
AI is taking the place of human interaction. Voice cloning. What's next?

 

[mikedt]

I've always had a suspicion that buzzfeed was run by a bot.

 

[Hadron]

The cynic in me wonders how much difference it will make. After all, it's been amply demonstrated how "tech media" writers will copy and amplify made-up stories without bothering to do any fact checking. The main difference here is that the process of uncritically recycling whatever someone else posts on the web will be automated.

 

[Dannydet]

Yes, regurgitated responses.

 

[treb1797]

Rob, I'd say keep AI out of it altogether.

This is where it's getting weird, not just here but everywhere.
AI is taking the place of human interaction. Voice cloning. What's next?

Totally agree. I saw a voice cloning story where someone used it to demand ransom saying that they kidnapped this man's daughter. Luckily she was safe and AI was the culprit. Not excited about AI at all.

 

[AugieTN]

I saw some article about a guy committing suicide from a conversation with an AI Chatbot. Might want to hold off on the AI stuff for a while. Just my 2 cents

 

[Hadron]

Actually my main problem is with calling these things "AI". They are absolutely not AI in the technical meaning of the term, but these companies' marketing departments have realised that "AI" sounds sexier than "ML" or, more precisely, "LLM".

Personally I like the description "stochastic parrots": systems which generate sentences based on probabilistic associations of phrases from their training samples (the "stochastic" part) with no understanding whatsoever of what the sentences they generate mean (hence "parrots").

 

[techfunhj]

AI can be useful, however, creating full articles full of AI content can feel fake and look like content for the sake of content. It's best used in doses to mock-up initial ideas

 

[Hadron]

Take a look at the future of "news":
BuzzFeed Is Quietly Publishing Whole AI-Generated Articles, Not Just Quizzes

Here is a summary, courtesy of ChatGPT:

• BuzzFeed began publishing AI-assisted content, initially focusing on quizzes and promising high-quality content.
• BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti initially criticized the idea of using AI for cost savings and generating low-quality content.
• Recently, BuzzFeed quietly started publishing fully AI-generated articles, mostly SEO-driven travel guides.
• These AI-generated articles contain repetitive and bland content, with several recurring phrases and themes.
• The AI-generated travel guides are attributed to "Buzzy the Robot," with a note indicating collaborative writing with a human employee.
• Human collaborators are non-editorial staff from domains like client partnerships, account management, and product management.
• A BuzzFeed spokesperson stated that the AI-generated pieces are part of an experiment to test AI writing assistance with non-writers.
• These AI-generated articles seem like a proof of concept for the content mill model that Peretti initially criticized.

And since then Buzzfeed News has closed, so all that's left is the low-quality content mill operation.
Welcome to Web 3.0 everyone!