CNET found errors in more than half of its AI stories

CNET issued corrections on 41 of the 77 stories the outlet published that were written using an artificial intelligence tool, reports Mia Sato and Emma Roth of The Verge.

Sato and Roth write, “In a note published today, CNET editor-in-chief Connie Guglielmo defended the use of the AI writing tool but said that an internal review of stories uncovered numerous errors in the articles at the center of the controversy.

“Articles with corrections include ones titled “What Is Compound Interest?,” “How Much Should You Keep in a CD?,” “Does a Home Equity Loan Affect Private Mortgage Insurance?” and dozens more. A handful of articles, like this one, had the correction note reading, “We’ve replaced phrases that were not entirely original,’ indicating that some of their language may have been plagiarized.

“Earlier this month, Futurism broke the news that CNET had been quietly publishing articles written by AI for months without drawing much public attention or making a formal announcement.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.