back to article Publisher halts AI article assembly line after probe

Consumer tech publisher CNET will pause publishing stories written with the help of AI software, after it was criticized for failing to catch errors in copy generated by machines. Executives at the outlet said in a call that it would pause publishing AI-assisted articles – for now, according to The Verge. This comes soon …

  1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

    I really don't see

    Why a *tool* should be credited as the author of anything.

    You don't credit Word or LibreOffice or Lyx as an author, merely as an adjunct in the colophon.

    Though there should certainly be a warning that the content of an article has been created by statistics rather than intelligence.

    1. Richard 12 Silver badge
      Trollface

      On the contrary

      I'm all for it.

      If you used one of these systems to write any part of your paper and it wasn't the subject of the investigation, you must credit it as an author because it wrote your words.

      This makes it easier for everyone else to file your paper under "likely plagiarism" or "/dev/null"

      1. Paul Kinsler

        Re: you must credit it as an author

        I think I would disagree with "as an author", but it would be entirely reasonable to credit it in the Acknowledgments. In any case, giving credit to machines and software is hardly unusual in academic work (e.g. "We took the measurements with a Oscillo 9000x spectrometer and processed and analyzed the the data with the SoxLab PI software package.")

        1. vekkq

          Re: you must credit it as an author

          Telling what tool you used to make measurements is to make your study verifiable and falsifiable.

          Whether an AI laid out words on your paper however is not relevant to a study.

          1. Neoc

            Re: you must credit it as an author

            I beg to differ - if you are using the AI to write even the first draft of your paper, then the fact is relevant as it could introduce bias in the reporting.

            As such, the use of AI should be not credited, but certainly reported.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I really don't see

      Can there be a warning when it was written in Word?

    3. Jonjonz

      Re: I really don't see

      Where is the outrage at Grammerly?

      1. Hubert Cumberdale Silver badge

        Re: I really don't see

        Probably somewhere with the outrage at your spelling.

  2. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    Freelancing Future Pioneers ..... Boldly Going where Angels and Daemons Fear to Tread and Thread

    Humans perpetually struggle and persistently fail consistently and spectacularly to realise and exploit the clear unhindered advantage that believable viable attractive virulent imagination delivers in spades to Greater IntelAIgent Gamers and More Orderly Novel World Order Players and ITs NEUKlearer HyperRadioProACTive Non-State Actor Diaspora ..... Live Operational Virtual Environment and those Joint All-Domain Command and Control Centres [JADC3] in the crippling para-militarised wings of such developments/emergent virtually augmented meta data base realities/existences.

    Such is an almighty self-defeating intelligence deficit which renders them as collectives of pawns to Greater IntelAIgent Game Grand Masters at their Work, Rest and Play in Elitist Executive SCADA Administrative Operating Systems and the Live Operational Virtual Environments of Cyber Space.

    And the simple fact that so many will fail to believe and realise the opportunities available for them to grasp and engage with and which abound and surround them with the greater free sharing of that news, guarantees its quiet stealthy rapid advance into a safe and secure place of both practical and virtual metaphysical omniscience and omnipotence in the command and control of a very select and enlightened alien few ‽ .

    And can you believe it, El Reg, something the UKGBNI's Ministry of Defence declined to spearhead and lead as an AWEsome AIDevelopment, which sadly appears to confirm and reinforce the almighty self-defeating intelligence deficit point made above.

    Dear Sir/Madam,

    Thank you for expressing an interest in AWE 20. The paper sift has now been completed.

    During the paper sift stage of the project each product was marked on its own merits by a team of Military and MOD personnel as well as engineers from DE&S. It was decided as a panel that AWE 20 would not be the right trials arena to test and understand the technology. As I’m sure you can understand we have a limited time to investigate a wide range of products from a wide question set and as such the panel had to ensure that AWE was the most appropriate arena to test the products. Products such as yours will be passed onto relevant project teams / TDUs to ensure awareness of the product is raised and I would encourage you to attend the VIP day to gain further exposure for the technology.

    Kind regards, ..... Corporate Commercial Delivery Team | SEQT Commercial Placement Officer

    MOD Abbey Wood South, #1261 | Spruce 2B | Bristol | BS34 8JH

    Is it any wonder the Erotic and Exotic East is so attractive and exciting whenever the Wickedly Wacky West is so shortsighted and blinkered and tethered to exclusive support of antiquated ancestral status quo hierarchies/oligarchies/autocracies/cabals suffering from an almighty self-defeating intelligence deficit/novel proprietary intellectual property black hole ‽ .

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    pieces were factually challenged

    out of AI ass? AI-shit? Where was the AI editor to proof AI writers?

  4. Jonjonz

    These yobs at CNET clearly took writing with AI help as seen in the last season of Westworld to heart.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Pot kettle?

    Still stuck on the bit about Getty suing over steeling images that they probably stole first.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like