--- title: "CNET Staff Unionize, Saying AI Use “Threatens Our Jobs and Reputations”" description: "CNET staffers are unionizing, and they've named AI — and the lived impact that AI initiatives have on human life and work — as a concern." date: "2023-05-18" modified: "2023-05-18" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/cnet-staff-unionize-ai" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "cnet" - "journalism" - "Media" --- # CNET Staff Unionize, Saying AI Use “Threatens Our Jobs and Reputations” ![CNET staffers are unionizing, and they've named AI — and the lived impact that AI initiatives have on human life and work — as a concern.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* *CNET* staffers are unionizing, and they're naming their employer's use of AI as a key reason why — a timely reminder that even as generative AI tech raises billions in funding and threatens to upend entire industries, it's already causing a very real human impact among workers. And now, they're fighting back. "In terms of AI initiatives and media workers, we're not alone in this issue," a *CNET* union representative told us. "We're joining a lot of others in the media who are looking into how to address AI in relation to plagiarism, liability and the impact to the workforce." Back in January, it emerged that the Red Ventures-owned *CNET* had been [quietly publishing AI-generated stories]() under the vague byline "*CNET* Money." In response, [*CNET* issued assurances]() that all its *CNET* Money-bylined stories, though produced with AI, had been fact-checked by human editors; examined closely, however, it turned out that many of the articles [contained fairly egregious errors]() and [even apparent plagiarism](). The media fallout to the AI news was swift, and according to [data from SimilarWeb](), *CNET's* traffic has subsequently plummeted. It also started to look like a move of desperation by Red Ventures, which [hit *CNET*'s staff with brutal layoffs]() in the wake of the scandal. But cut to a few months later, and in the midst of the fallout, *CNET* journalists are working with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) East to form a *CNET* Media Workers Union (CMWU.) "In this time of instability," [reads the CMWU's mission statement](), "our diverse content teams need industry-standard job protections, fair compensation, editorial independence, and a voice in the decision-making process, especially as automated technology threatens our jobs and reputations." While the nascent CMWU has made it clear that AI and the threats that it poses — job loss due to automation, reputational damage to a publication and its writers, and more — is a motivating factor, they also say unionization efforts were underway before *CNET* was using AI. Still, they say, they might have been better able to deal with the company's use of AI if they'd been unionized at the time. "Our organizing campaign started before \[Red Ventures\] began its rollout of AI late last year," a representative of the CMWU's organizing committee told *Futurism*. "If we were under a collective bargaining agreement then, the terms and conditions of using this new \[AI\] technology would have been transparent and negotiable. We also would have been able to more directly support the few *CNET Money* colleagues assigned to this work." On that note, the CMWU was also careful to point out that AI isn't just a *CNET* or Red Ventures issue. It's a media issue, and publications ranging from [*BuzzFeed*]() to [*Insider*]() have already started to implement similar AI efforts. "Forming a union was a very human decision that allowed us to come together to bring the highest standards to our work and to maintain the integrity of *CNET* as a trusted source," the spokesperson told us. "There's an urgent need to build industry-wide ethical standards around the use of AI tools, and the best way to do so is through collective bargaining agreements that uphold high journalistic standards. AI-produced content should never replace writers." The bottom line? Though *CNET* has certainly taken a reputational hit over the last few months, its journalists are bearing the consequences. And the disruptive new tech is being implemented during an already tumultuous time for the broader media environment. As it stands, no one really knows what's going to come next — or, for that matter, how AI will ultimately impact the human writers, editors, artists, and others who have long powered the media industry. "The AI issue was one of several incidents during our time at Red Ventures that showed that these protections are not just a nice to have," Mike Sorrentino, a *CNET* senior editor and a union organizer, [t0ld *Bloomberg*](), "but an essential thing." **More on *CNET*:** [*CNET Secretly Used AI on Articles That Didn't Disclose That Fact, Staff Say*]() ## 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]()