Dozens of websites are using AI chatbots to copy and repurpose articles from top publishers, according to a report from the news-rating group NewsGuard, offering a glimpse into how artificial intelligence tools risk undermining media companies and muddying the online news industry. The 37 websites, which Bloomberg also reviewed, posted stories that contained identical text, photos and quotes to articles previously published by the New York Times, Reuters and CNN, according to the report.
While the websites don’t spell out the role AI plays in populating stories, NewsGuard found articles on each site with the same telltale sign: an automated error message. NewsGuard said it spotted 17 articles posted in the past six months on GlobalVillageSpace.com, for example, that contained AI error messages in the body of the stories.