CNET pauses using AI to write stories

Tech news site CNET will pause publication of stories generated using artificial intelligence “for now,” the site’s leadership told employees on a staff call Friday, reports Maria Sato of The Verge.

Sato reports, “The call, which lasted under an hour, was held a week after CNET came under fire for its use of AI tools on stories and one day after The Verge reported that AI tools had been in use for months, with little transparency to readers or staff. CNET hadn’t formally announced the use of AI until readers noticed a small disclosure.

“‘We didn’t do it in secret,’ CNET editor-in-chief Connie Guglielmo told the group. ‘We did it quietly.’

“CNET, owned by private equity firm Red Ventures, is among several websites that have been publishing articles written using AI. Other sites like Bankrate and CreditCards.com would also pause AI stories, executives on the call said.

“Futurism noted that CNET and Bankrate appeared to have stopped running AI stories as early as Wednesday.”

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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.