12th of March AI-generated articles and media. Reflections from Cybercrime magazine.
This week on cybersecurity from the editors of Cybercrime Magazine
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Sausalito, California – March 12, 2024
Ars TECHNICA Reports that AI-generated articles prompted Wikipedia to downgrade CNET’s trustworthiness rating.
For over 25 years, CNET, a popular media website, has published reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts and videos about technology and consumer electronics worldwide.
Wikipedia’s decision reflects concerns about the reliability of articles found on the technology news site after it started publishing AI-generated stories in 2022.
Around November 2022, CNET began publishing articles written by an AI model under the byline “CNET Money Staff.” In January 2023, Futurism called attention to the issue and discovered that the articles were full of plagiarism and errors.
“CNET is the world’s largest provider of unbiased, technology-driven news and advice,” a CNET spokesperson said in a statement to Futurism in response to the downgrade and controversies. “We have been trusted for nearly 30 years because of our rigorous standards in writing and product review. It is important to clarify that CNET does not actively use AI to create new content.”
Steve Morgan, founder of Cybersecurity Ventures and editor-in-chief of Cybercrime Magazine, was interviewed about this story on our podcast. “It’s a widespread problem. We’re talking about fake reporting, fake stories“, said Morgane. But he clarified that this concerned other media and not necessarily CNET.
When asked if Cybercrime Magazine used AI for any of its editorials, Morgan responded with a resounding: “No“, although he added that it is possible that we will do so at some point in the future, but that this would be carefully reviewed by our full-time (human) employees.
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