CNET’s Controversial ‘AI Journalist’ Accused Of Directly Plagiarizing Articles

The waters surrounding the use of artificial intelligence as journalists have grown murkier, as further investigation from Futurism has found “extensive evidence” that many CNET articles written by a bot have been plagiarized from competitors.

Initially, the site was outed for having made use of “automation technology” to pen pieces since November 2022, a move that seemingly backfired when a sizable number of errors was spotted in the published work. 

Its parent company, Red Ventures, recently announced it was temporarily pausing AI-generated articles on the webpage until the backlash died down. However, it seems the controversy won’t be stopping any time soon. 

The investigation reports that articles written by the AI contained “deep structural and phrasing similarities” to those found on sites such as Forbes, fellow Red Ventures site Bankrate, and even human writers’ works at CNET itself. 

Jeff Schatten, a Professor at Washington and Lee University who is familiar with the rise of AI-enabled misconduct, says Futurism’s numerous examples of similar sentences were enough to “clearly” prove plagiarism. 

An excerpt from a recent article on overdraft protection contains the sentences: “Overdraft fees and NSF fees don’t have to be a common consequence. There are a few steps you can take to avoid them.” 

This was seen as being incredibly similar in terms of verbiage to the piece in Forbes Advisor, which read: “Overdraft and NSF fees need not be the norm. There are several tools at your disposal to avoid them.” 

With even scientists beginning to credit chatbots as co-author of research papers, there’s no doubt the technology possesses infinite potential, but as with other AI tools, the topic of ethics comes into play. 

This includes the instance when a professor caught his student using an AI feature to complete an assignment, thereby leading to the whole of New York State banning the use of the chatbot from its issued devices. 

While an anti-plagiarism tool is currently in the works to identify those using AI to cheat, the technology’s spiking popularity could see the hard work of journalists, bloggers, and writers being used to feed its database without consent. 

[via The Wrap and Futurism, cover image via Vasile Bobirnac | Dreamstime.com]