--- title: "CNET Is Quietly Publishing Entire Articles Generated By AI" description: "The popular tech site has employed the use of AI for its financial explainer articles under the byline of \"CNET Money Staff.\"" date: "2023-01-11" modified: "2023-01-15" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/cnet-publishing-articles-by-ai" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "ai-generated content" - "the digest" --- # CNET Is Quietly Publishing Entire Articles Generated By AI ![The popular tech site has employed the use of AI for its financial explainer articles under the byline of "CNET Money Staff."]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Next time you're on your favorite news site, you might want to double check the byline to see if it was written by an actual human. *CNET*, a massively popular tech news outlet, has been quietly employing the help of "automation technology" — a stylistic euphemism for AI — on a new wave of financial explainer articles, seemingly starting around November of last year. In the absence of any formal announcement or coverage, it appears that this was first spotted by online marketer Gael Breton in a [tweet]() on Wednesday. The articles are published under the unassuming appellation of "[CNET Money Staff]()," and encompass topics like "Should You Break an Early CD for a Better Rate?" or "What is Zelle and How Does It Work?" That byline obviously does not paint the full picture, and so your average reader visiting the site likely would have no idea that what they're reading is AI-generated. It's only when you click on "CNET Money Staff," that the actual "authorship" is revealed. "This article was generated using automation technology," reads a dropdown description, "and thoroughly edited and fact-checked by an editor on our editorial staff." Since the program began, *CNET* has put out around 73 AI-generated articles. That's not a whole lot for a site that big, and absent an official announcement of the program, it appears leadership is trying to keep the experiment as lowkey as possible. *CNET* did not respond to questions about the AI-generated articles. *Are you a current or former CNET employee who wants to discuss the company's foray into AI-generated articles? Email [tips@futurism.com]() to share your perspective. It's okay if you don't want to be identified by name.* Because the content seems carefully optimized for search traffic, Google's outlook on AI-generated content will likely make or break the future of the program. Though high-ranking Google official John Mueller [said last year]() that AI-generated content with the primary aim of manipulating search rankings is against the company's policies, a Google spokesperson clarified to *Futurism* that AI-generated content isn't entirely verboten. "Our goal for Search is to show helpful, relevant content that’s created for people, rather than to attain search engine rankings," public liaison for Search Danny Sullivan said in a statement provided to *Futurism.* "Our ranking team focuses on the usefulness of content, rather than how the content is produced. This allows us to create solutions that aim to reduce all types of unhelpful content in Search, whether it’s produced by humans or through automated processes." In a sense, AI-generated articles are not new — there's tons littering the internet already, some as low tech as copying a human written article and swapping certain words out with synonyms to obfuscate the plagiarism. But AI usage is not limited to those kinds of bottom of the barrel outlets. Even the prestigious news agency *The* *Associated Press* [has been using AI since 2015]() to automatically write thousands and thousands of [earnings reports](). The *AP* has even proudly [proclaimed itself]() as "one of the first news organizations to leverage artificial intelligence." It's worth noting, however, that the *AP*'s auto-generated material appears to be essentially filling in blanks in predetermined formats, whereas the more sophisticated verbiage of *CNET*'s publications suggests that it's using something more akin to OpenAI's GPT-3. Nonetheless*, AP's* justification for using AI — and a talking point being adopted across the industry — is that it frees up journalists and other staff from having to write tedious recaps. In reality, it's hard to believe that the technology would forever be limited to a cure to tedium and never intrude on "real" writing jobs. Now, looking at the entire explainers that *CNET* has generated using AI, it looks like that goalpost has already shifted — and may never return. *Updated with comment from Google.* **More on AI:** *[Social Media Users Alarmed by Relentless Ads for AI That Sexts With Lonely People]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()