--- title: "Gizmodo Owner Vows to Keep Publishing AI-Generated Articles After Error-Filled Debut" description: "After a disastrous toe-dipping into AI, the owner of Gizmodo is doubling down and pledging to publish even more bot-written content. " date: "2023-07-18" modified: "2023-07-18" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/gizmodo-owner-continuing-ai-articles" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai writing" - "gizmodo" - "journalism" - "the digest" --- # Gizmodo Owner Vows to Keep Publishing AI-Generated Articles After Error-Filled Debut ![After a disastrous toe-dipping into AI, the owner of Gizmodo is doubling down and pledging to publish even more bot-written content. ]() *\Image: Piaras Ó Mídheach via Getty / Futurism\* ## Fool Me Once After a disastrous toe-dipping into AI-generated content, the owner of *Gizmodo* is doubling down and pledging to publish *even more* lazily bot-written articles. As [*Vox* reports](), G/O Media — which owns such new media staples as *Quartz*, *The AV Club* and *Jalopnik* — affirmed that they plan to extend their "[modest test]()" of AI-written articles even though the drivel they posted earlier in July was, well, terrible. Employees at G/O were [blindsided and furious]() when they learned that the company was publishing a bot-written listicle about "approximately ten minutes" before it went live, [per deputy editor James Withlock](). What's worse is that the AI-penned listicle in question, titled "A Chronological List of Star Wars Movies & TV Shows," was, as [*Gizmodo*'s own union noted](), chock-full of factual errors and omissions. The company corrected some of the errors but [left others live — and the resulting sludge is now ranking on Google](), sending exactly the wrong message to the site's executive leadership. ## High Ground In spite of that disastrous foray, G/O Media leadership is forging ahead and plans to publish "2-3 quality stories" over at *Jalopnik* and *The AV Club* on July 21, per one of the internal memos given to *Vox*. That same memo, published after the Star Wars debacle, acknowledges that AI-written articles "alone (currently) are not factually reliable/consistent" without human editing. Nonetheless, G/O Media brass appears to be all-in on AI, to the point that CEO Jim Spanfeller told *Vox* that it would be "irresponsible" for other outlets not to test it out. "It is absolutely a thing we want to do more of," Merrill Brown, the company's editorial director, told *Vox*. Management's rosy outlook unsurprisingly, isn't shared by G/O staffers, who told *Vox* on condition of anonymity that their employers' continued push toward shoddy AI is hurting their credibility and cohesion. "It’s a disaster for employee morale," one of those journalists told the website. Brown and Spanfeller insist that they don't plan to replace journalists with AI and, in fact, want to hire more reporters, but given the company's history of layoffs and [other such promises]() that proved to be empty at [places like *BuzzFeed*](), those sorts of statements should be taken with a grain of salt. **More on media's AI obsession:** [*CNET’s Parent Company Preparing to Kickstart the AI Content Engine*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()