CNET has hit the pause button on its controversial article-writing bot.
In a staff call on Friday, CNET leadership announced that it would stop using artificial intelligence to write articles “for now,” per
The AI-generated articles are listed as being written by “CNET Money Staff” with a disclaimer originally saying “This article was generated using automation technology and thoroughly edited and fact-checked by an editor on our editorial staff.” Criticism that the disclaimer was insufficient and too subtle, let alone unethical to use AI in the first place, swiftly followed. Now, the author is listed as “CNET Money” and the disclaimer has been changed to “This article was assisted by an AI engine and reviewed, fact-checked and edited by our editorial staff.”
Original publications of the stories contained errors such as confusing the terms APR and APY, and incorrectly calculating that a savings account with $10,000 and a three percent interest rate would accrue $10,300 when it would actually accrue $300.
The AI technology was created by private equity firm Red Ventures which owns CNET, in addition to Bankrate, The Points Guy, and CreditCards.com. Publishing content about finance and banking is lucrative for media sites because it draws lots of inquiry through search engines, which is then converted into profit through affiliate links. Optimizing content for search is standard practice in digital media, but using a bot to identify and churn out stories for the explicit purpose of monetization blurs the lines of ethical editorial practice. When a media site prioritizes moneymaking content over relevant and timely news, it calls the site’s integrity and credibility into question.
In response,
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