CNET has hit the pause button on its controversial article-writing bot.
According to The Verge, during a staff call on Friday, CNET executives announced that they would stop creating articles using artificial intelligence “for the time being.”(opens in new window)Last week, online marketing expert Gael Breton said: murmured(opens in new window) A CNET article on financial planning included the disclaimer that it was “generated using automated technology.” Futurism covered the story and reported that CNET had “quietly published” it.(opens in new window) Since November 2022, there have been over 70 SEO-friendly explainer articles on finance. That was followed by a backlash against using artificial intelligence to generate stories. There was no clear announcement to achieve his high SEO ranking, and the article was also scrutinized for accuracy.
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Articles generated by AI are listed as written by “CNET Money Staff” and were originally written as “This article was generated using automated technology and has been thoroughly edited and edited by editors on the editorial staff.” It has a disclaimer stating that the facts have been confirmed. Criticism quickly followed that the disclaimer was inadequate, overly clever, and that using AI in the first place was unethical. The author is now listed as “CNET Money” and the disclaimer has been changed to “This article was assisted by his AI engine and was reviewed, fact-checked and edited by our editorial staff.”
The original publication of the article confused the terms APR and APY, or incorrectly calculated that a $10,000 savings account with a 3% interest rate would generate $10,300 when it actually generated $300. It included errors such as
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The AI technology was created by Red Ventures, a private equity firm that owns CNET, along with Bankrate, The Points Guy and CreditCards.com. Publishing financial and banking content is beneficial for media sites as it attracts a lot of inquiries through search engines, which are converted into revenue through affiliate links. While optimizing content for search is standard practice in digital media, using bots to identify and mass-produce stories for the express purpose of monetization is not ethical. Blurring the lines of editorial practice. When a media site prioritizes money-making content over relevant and timely news, the site’s integrity and credibility are questioned.
In response, CNET published a post.(opens in new window) Explaining how the use of AI was intended, “to see if the technology could help our busy staff of reporters and editors cover topics from a 360-degree perspective”. Because technology can free up time and energy to focus on deeper reporting and analysis.
Associated Press(opens in new window) We also use AI to gather and analyze news, transcribe videos, and create copy. So while CNET has put the controversial tool on hold for now, CNET isn’t the only one experimenting with the technology.
