G/O Media is the owner of top sites like Gizmodo, Kotaku, Quartz, and the Onion. Last month they announced “modest tests” of AI-generated content on their sites — and it didn’t go over well within the company, reports the Washington Post.
Soon the Deputy Editor of Gizmodo’s science fiction section io9 was flagging 18 “concerns, corrections and comments” about an AI-generated story by “Gizmodo Bot” on the chronological order of Star Wars movies and TV shows.
“I have never had to deal with this basic level of incompetence with any of the colleagues that I have ever worked with,” James Whitbrook told the Post in an interview. “If these AI [chatbots] can’t even do something as basic as put a Star Wars movie in order one after the other, I don’t think you can trust it to [report] any kind of accurate information.”
The irony that the turmoil was happening at Gizmodo, a publication dedicated to covering technology, was undeniable… Merrill Brown, the editorial director of G/O Media, wrote that because G/O Media owns several sites that cover technology, it has a responsibility to “do all we can to develop AI initiatives relatively early in the evolution of the technology.” “These features aren’t replacing work currently being done by writers and editors,” Brown said in announcing to staffers that the company would roll out a trial to test “our editorial and technological thinking about use of AI.”
“There will be errors, and they’ll be corrected as swiftly as possible,” he promised… In a Slack message reviewed by The Post, Brown told disgruntled employees Thursday that the company is “eager to thoughtfully gather and act on feedback…” The note drew 16 thumbs down emoji, 11 wastebasket emoji, six clown emoji, two face palm emoji and two poop emoji, according to screenshots of the Slack conversation…
Earlier this week, Lea Goldman, the deputy editorial director at G/O Media, notified employees on Slack that the company had “commenced limited testing” of AI-generated stories on four of its sites, including A.V. Club, Deadspin, Gizmodo and The Takeout, according to messages The Post viewed… Employees quickly messaged back with concern and skepticism. “None of our job descriptions include editing or reviewing AI-produced content,” one employee said. “If you wanted an article on the order of the Star Wars movies you … could’ve just asked,” said another. “AI is a solution looking for a problem,” a worker said. “We have talented writers who know what we’re doing. So effectively all you’re doing is wasting everyone’s time.”
The Post spotted four AI-generated stories on the company’s sites, including io9, Deadspin, and its food site The Takeout.
At least two of those four stories had to be corrected after publication.
