NEW YORK (AP) – Computer-generated writers… writing computer-generated stories?
Sports Illustrated (SI) is the latest media company to see its reputation damaged by being less than forthcoming – if not outright dishonest – about who or what is writing its stories at the dawn of the artificial intelligence (AI) age.
The once-powerful publication said it was firing a company that produced articles for its website written under the byline of authors who apparently don’t exist. But it denied a published report that stories themselves were written by an AI tool.
Earlier this year, experiments with AI went awry at both the Gannett newspaper chain and the CNET technology website.
Many companies are testing the new technology at a time when human workers fear it could cost jobs.
But the process is fraught in journalism, which builds and markets its values-based products around the notions of truth and transparency.
While there’s nothing wrong in media companies experimenting with AI, “the mistake is in trying to hide it, and in doing it poorly”, said University of Maryland professor Tom Rosenstiel who teaches journalism ethics.
CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS OF WHAT HAPPENED
SI, now run as a website and once-monthly publication by the Arena Group, at one time was a weekly in the Time Inc stable of magazines known for its sterling writing.
“Its ambitions were grand,” said author of Magazine, a book described as an elegy for the industry, Jeff Jarvis.
On Monday, the Futurism website reported that SI used stories for product reviews that had authors it could not identify. Futurism found a picture of one author listed, Drew Ortiz, on a website that sells AI-generated portraits.
The magazine’s author profile said that “Drew has spent much of his life outdoors, and is excited to guide you through his never-ending list of the best products to keep you from falling to the perils of nature”.
Upon questioning SI, Futurism said all of the authors with AI-generated portraits disappeared from the magazine’s website.
Futurism quoted an unnamed person at the magazine who said AI was used in the creation of some content as well.
SI said the articles in question were created by a third-party company, AdVon Commerce, which assured the magazine that they were written and edited by humans. AdVon had its writers use a pen name, “actions we don’t condone”, SI said.
“We are removing the content while our internal investigation continues and have since ended the partnership,” the magazine said.
NOT THE FIRST SUCH SITUATION
Gannett paused an experiment at some of its newspapers this summer in which AI was used to generate articles on high school sports events, after errors were discovered. The articles carried the byline “LedeAI”.
Some of the unpleasant publicity that resulted might have been avoided if the newspapers had been explicit about the role of technology, and how it helped create articles that journalists might not have been available to do, Jarvis said. Gannett said a lack of staff had nothing to do with the experiment.
This past winter, it was reported that CNET had used AI to create explanatory news articles about financial service topics attributed to “CNET Money Staff”.
The only way for readers to learn that technology was involved in the writing was to click on that author attribution.
Only after its experiment was discovered and written about by other publications did CNET discuss it with readers. In a note, then-editor Connie Guglielmo said that 77 machine-generated stories were posted, and that several required corrections.
The site subsequently made it more clear when AI is being used in story creation.
“The process may not always be easy or pretty, but we’re going to continue embracing it, and any new technology that we believe makes life better,” Guglielmo wrote.
Other companies have been more up front about their experiments. Buzzfeed, for example, attributed a travel article on Santa Barbara, California, to writer Emma Heegar and Buzzy the Robot, “our creative AI assistant”.
The Associated Press has been using technology to assist in articles about financial earnings reports since 2014, and more recently in some sports stories. At the end of each such story is a note that explains technology’s role in its production, a spokeswoman said.
