--- title: "CNET’s Owner Preparing to Restart Publishing AI-Generated Content" description: "Just weeks after pressing pause on publishing AI-generated content, CNET owner Red Ventures appears poised to greenlight its AI program once again." date: "2023-02-24" modified: "2023-02-24" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/cnet-owner-preparing-restart-ai-content" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "cnet" - "generative ai" - "journalism" --- # CNET’s Owner Preparing to Restart Publishing AI-Generated Content ![Just weeks after pressing pause on publishing AI-generated content, CNET owner Red Ventures appears poised to greenlight its AI program once again.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Barely a month after placing an indefinite pause on publishing [AI-generated content](), *CNET* owner Red Ventures appears poised to spin the AI content machine back up once again. Leaked audio obtained by *Futurism* has revealed that the publishing giant's execs are gearing up for a second rollout of the AI tech, which Red Ventures has [internally rebranded]() as an assistive "tooling" program. And this time, they say, things will be different. "As you all recall, we put a temporary pause on AI-assisted content," said Lance Davis, Vice President of Content for Financial Services for *CNET* as well as its sister sites *Bankrate* and *CreditCards.com*, adding that the "first part" of a content audit — basically, combing its AI-generated articles for mistakes, a move made necessary by the revelation that the company's mystery machine was publishing [blatantly false]() and [sometimes plagiarized]() material — across "*CNET*, *Bankrate*, and *Creditcards.com*" has been completed. "I want to talk about a few of the process changes we're planning to make, both to the tooling," added Davis, "as well to some of our editorial checkpoints that come up in the content creation process." Davis then passed the mic to Red Ventures' Managing Editor of AI-Powered Content Cameron Hurta, who detailed "enhancements" being made to the mystery machine. "Our primary tooling enhancements kind of go into three different buckets," said Hurta, listing them as "output," "quality controls," and "user experience." As far as the output bit goes, Hurta promised that the company has replaced its "plagiarism-checking service" with something more "accurate" — a response to the revelation that much of the AI's work published before the pause had [seemingly been closely cribbed]() from existing work by human writers, an issue that *CNET*'s editors characterized as "phrases that were not entirely original." Elsewhere, in regard to "quality control," Hurta promised that the new-and-improved machinery would offer "quality and AI likeness scores for all generations"— but not [necessarily for the sake]() of the company's many millions of readers. Perhaps [unsurprisingly](), the execs seem primarily concerned about whether Google's algorithms will identify the content as AI-generated. The likeness scores will "help us ensure that our content still reads human-like," said Hurta," and is not going to get tagged as being AI content." "And that, you know," he added, seemingly as an afterthought, "the generations you're getting are of solid quality." Given Hurta's concern about whether Google will be able to detect AI-generated content, it's not clear whether the Red Ventures sites will be marking AI-generated content as such in the future. Asked whether AI content would be marked going forward, a Red Ventures spokesperson gave a statement that didn't seem to answer the question. "*CNET Money* always identified the stories that were created with AI assist with a disclosure," they wrote. "We have made our disclosures even more prominent (as mentioned in CNET's statement here) as we continue to evolve editorial use of new technologies and tools." Hurta also claimed that the new "tooling" system would integrate a few added editor-assisting features, notably in the form of adding source URLs into generated content. But if the saga of OpenAI's ChatGPT has proven anything, it's that incorporating fact-checking or source-finding services into language-generating systems is quite difficult. If the folks behind the Red Ventures AI content have figured out how to do so reliably, we'd be impressed. But considering that the likes of Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI [haven't been able]() to do that quite yet, we're not entirely optimistic. Circling back to those "editorial checkpoints," Davis promised that the company was assembling an "expert review board" that would fact-check all AI-generated articles, a requirement that would apply to *CNET* as well as *Bankrate* and *Creditcards.com*. That said, Red Ventures had previously promised that editors with relevant knowledge had reviewed its AI-generated articles — and that was *before* we reported on just how many errors were actually in *CNET's* financial explainers. (And to that note, Davis also said in the meeting that Red Ventures had gotten an expert review on "most" of *Bankrate's* AI articles, "but not all of them.") Here's hoping that the experts do a better job this time around, but forgive us for feeling a little gaslit by this particular pledge. Davis also said that he would personally be carrying out a final review of AI-generated articles before they were published. Asked whether it was typical for a vice president at Red Ventures to be reviewing editorial content before it was published, a spokesperson said his title was "Editor in Charge of Editorial Content for *CNET Money*, *Bankrate* and *CreditCards.com*." "He is responsible for overseeing and reviewing editorial content and is a member of the newsroom," the spokesperson said. Neither Davis's LinkedIn nor Twitter lists that title, however, identifying him instead as a vice president at Red Ventures. *Bankrate* and *CreditCards.com* both list him as a vice president, and he doesn't have a bio at *CNET* at all — which seems unusual for an editor and "member of the newsroom." And at the end of the day, regardless of the more existential debates surrounding AI journalism, the apparent Red Ventures push to get their AI back up and running just [feels hasty](). The [public condemnation]() of the company's AI saga has been swift and embarrassing, and also, it wasn't that long ago. If just a month or so ago the system couldn't correctly calculate basic financial math, it's hard to imagine that the so-called "enhancements" have really covered that much ground. But speed is apparently the name of the game. And unfortunately, it appears Red Ventures is sticking with its [experiment-first](), safety-later approach. **More on CNET:** [*Leaked Messages Show How CNET's Parent Company Really Sees AI-Generated Content*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()