NewsGuard, a disinformation tracking website, has discovered 50 websites that broadcast fake news created almost entirely by artificial intelligence algorithms.
Many of these websites provide artificial intelligence-generated material, such as “bland language and repetitive phrases.” Some of the articles include deceptive content, and many of the websites are tightly packed with adverts, hinting that they are intended to generate revenue through programmatic or algorithmically generated advertising.
The pieces lack bylines or make use of fictitious profile images. According to NewsGuard, experts’ predictions that AI may manufacture whole news companies have already come true. At least one instance of AI error message with lines like “I cannot complete this prompt” or “as an AI language model” can be found on all 49 sites.
The Guardian investigated and discovered some of the websites that NewsGuard has exposed. Get Into Knowledge is one such website that appears to repeat facts at random. The site employs unusual terminology and appears to be the product of artificial intelligence. Another website, celebritiesdeaths.com, publishes news about prominent people who have died but has also released incorrect information, such as the allegation that Joe Biden had died.
While ScoopEarth.com delivers insider information about still-living celebs as well as tech suggestions, and while some of the content seemed too weirdly phrased to be AI, there was so much repetitive information that it also felt like it couldn’t have been written by humans. Famadillo.com, a product review website that focuses on stress-relieving tablets, RVing ideas, Mother’s Day T-shirts, and the “top” locations in Santa Fe. The evaluations themselves are reasonable, but navigating the site is nearly hard.
The sources for this piece include an article in TheGuardian.