the tendency of publications to dabble in this kind of automation isn’t new–and it’s almost always ended in really embarrassing failure, of which this is the latest. you may have heard about the CNET AI fiasco earlier this year, for example.

After dabbling with AI, I just don’t think it’s ready for professional use. The thing with AI is that it will give an answer, even if there is no answer. If you ask it to list the last 50 star wars movies, it will, confidently.

It’s a jumping off point, but nothing more at this stage. Later? Maybe. It clearly has some issues in the short term though

TLDR: Owners forced this on the site without input from editors/writers.

“As you may have seen today, an AI-generated article appeared on io9,” James Whitbrook, deputy editor at io9 and Gizmodo, tweeted about the situation. “I was informed approximately 10 minutes beforehand, and no one at io9 played a part in its editing or publication.”

Whitbrook really tore into them after that, calling it “embarrassing, unpublishable” and generally being pissed.

G/O Media’s sites include Gizmodo, The Onion, The A.V. Club, Jezebel and Deadspin.

Let that last line be a warning to view any future content on those sites with extra suspicion. We expect intentionally incorrect satire on the Onion, but the rest? No thank you.

If these sites went under nothing would be lost. Theres room for a new filter/black list for generated content-farm sites.