It’s bad for the planet and could make many jobs – including mine – obsolete. But my loathing runs deeper than that
It’s one of those topics that comes up over drinks or dinner at the moment: whether or not you think AI is going to steal your job. So far, I’ve felt relatively confident that while AI could no doubt have a fair crack at writing a newspaper opinion column, there is something I do as part of my work that AI cannot: reporting.
Except now, it seems, AI is claiming to be doing that as well. Last week, it was revealed that at least six reputable publications have had to take down published articles because it turned out that they were probably pieces of fiction written by AI and then passed off by somebody as works of journalism under the name of Margaux Blanchard. One of these was a piece for Wired titled They Fell in Love Playing Minecraft. Then the Game Became Their Wedding Venue, which quoted a “digital celebrant” called Jessica Hu, who does not seem to actually exist. Another publication, called Dispatch, received a pitch from “Blanchard” about an ex-mining town called Gravemont that had been repurposed as a training ground for death investigation. Gravemont doesn’t exist either.
Imogen West-Knights is a writer and journalist
Continue reading…
It’s bad for the planet and could make many jobs – including mine – obsolete. But my loathing runs deeper than that
It’s one of those topics that comes up over drinks or dinner at the moment: whether or not you think AI is going to steal your job. So far, I’ve felt relatively confident that while AI could no doubt have a fair crack at writing a newspaper opinion column, there is something I do as part of my work that AI cannot: reporting.
Except now, it seems, AI is claiming to be doing that as well. Last week, it was revealed that at least six reputable publications have had to take down published articles because it turned out that they were probably pieces of fiction written by AI and then passed off by somebody as works of journalism under the name of Margaux Blanchard. One of these was a piece for Wired titled They Fell in Love Playing Minecraft. Then the Game Became Their Wedding Venue, which quoted a “digital celebrant” called Jessica Hu, who does not seem to actually exist. Another publication, called Dispatch, received a pitch from “Blanchard” about an ex-mining town called Gravemont that had been repurposed as a training ground for death investigation. Gravemont doesn’t exist either.
Imogen West-Knights is a writer and journalist Continue reading…Technology | The Guardian