G/O Media began publishing AI-generated articles on Gizmodo using Google Bard and ChatGPT, but the articles contained significant errors and faced strong objections from staff journalists who criticized the content quality and impact on their credibility.
In late June 2023, G/O Media, owner of Gizmodo and other tech outlets, began publishing AI-generated articles despite strong objections from staff members. The articles were credited to various bots like 'Gizmodo Bot' with no other indication of AI authorship. The first AI-generated story was a chronological list of Star Wars movies that was not actually chronological, prompting internal criticism from journalists who said it was 'actively hurting our reputations and credibility.' The articles were created using both Google's Bard and OpenAI's ChatGPT. G/O Media executive Jim Spanfeller's deputy, James Brown, told staff in an email that using AI was important for their technology outlets and that while there would be errors, they would be promptly fixed. Staff journalists expressed dismay in company Slack channels, with one calling AI 'a solution looking for a problem' and another noting that editing AI content was not in their job descriptions. Gizmodo Deputy Editor James Whitbrook described dealing with 'this basic level of incompetence' and said the chatbot's inability to order Star Wars movies correctly meant it couldn't be trusted for accurate reporting. The GMG Union, representing Gizmodo writers and part of the Writers Guild of America East, asked readers not to click on AI-written articles, calling them 'unethical and unacceptable.'
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
AI systems that inadvertently generate or spread incorrect or deceptive information, which can lead to inaccurate beliefs in users and undermine their autonomy. Humans that make decisions based on false beliefs can experience physical, emotional or material harms
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
No population impact data reported.