WGA Slams G/O Media’s AI-Generated Articles as ‘Existential Threat to Journalism,’ Demands Company End Practice

variety.com:

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The Writers Guild of America, East issued a blistering condemnation of G/O Media’s use of artificial intelligence to generate stories on sites including Gizmodo, The A.V.

Club and Deadspin. G/O Media’s AI-produced articles so far have included “A Chronological List of Star Wars Movies & TV Shows,” which was posted on Gizmodo’s io9 site last week and was riddled with errors; Deadspin’s “The 15 Most Valuable Professional Sports Franchises,” which provided outdated data on the value of different pro teams; and “The Biggest Summer Blockbusters of 2003: 10 Can’t-Miss Movies” on The A.V.

Club. “These AI-generated posts are only the beginning. Such articles represent an existential threat to journalism,” the union, which represents editorial employees at G/O Media, said in a statement Wednesday. “Our members are professionally harmed by G/O Media’s supposed ‘test’ of AI-generated articles.” WGA East added, “But this fight is not only about members in online media.

This is the same fight happening in broadcast newsrooms throughout our union. This is the same fight our film, television and streaming colleagues are waging against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) in their strike.” The union, in its statement, said it “demands an immediate end of AI-generated articles on G/O Media sites,” which include The A.V.