Newspaper apologizes for AI-generated summer reading list with nonexistent books
Category: News & Politics
Via: john-russell • last year • 4 commentsBy: Dominick Mastrangelo (The Hill)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Chicago Sun-Times apologized on Tuesday publishing an artificial intelligence-generated summer reading recommendation list that included books that do not exist.
The AI list was published online and in print over the weekend, with readers quickly pointing out the fake books and mocking the outlet on social media.
The list, published as part of a special section, was created by the newspaper's circulation department, it said, and "licensed from a national content partner."
"The special section was syndicated to the Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers," the company said. "To our great disappointment, that list recommended books that do not exist. We are committed to making sure this never happens again."
The section was inserted into the paper without review from its editorial team, the Sun-Times said, apologizing that it presented the section without any acknowledgement that it was from a third-party organization.
"We are in a moment of great transformation in journalism and technology, and at the same time our industry continues to be besieged by business challenges," the newspaper said in its statement. "This should be a learning moment for all journalism organizations: Our work is valued — and valuable — because of the humanity behind it."
The mistake comes as a growing number of major news organizations are partnering with with AI providers and other tech companies on content creation, digital strategy and content management systems.
One day in the not to distant future this reliance on AI will become dangerous.
Newspapers all over the country are using AI written stories and most likely not fact checking them. Thats what happened here.
that's a big oopsy
Obviously the newspaper saves some money by printing an AI generated book review rather than paying a human being to do it. With falling circulation numbers many papers are between the rock and the hard place. This misinformation will probably become a downward spiral.
Well, any books in the list that are not really there can be fixed by anyone going to this site.
I'm planning on getting one for my ex-wife for Christmas. Yes, we're still friends even after the divorce.
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