AI-Generated News Fooling You? Shocking Report Reveals 49 Fraudulent Websites

Until now, reports stated that five out of 10 U.S. adults rely on social media to get news despite studies denoting them as a hotbed of misinformation. However, things have become much muddier with artificial intelligence at its peak development stage. 

What Happened: On Monday, a report published by the news-rating group NewsGuard uncovered at least 49 AI chatbot-generated news websites, revealing potential concerns about the technology’s ability to enhance fraudulent techniques, reported Bloomberg.

These websites contain various content such as breaking news, lifestyle tips, celebrity news, and sponsored content, without indicating that AI chatbots like OpenAI’s chatGPT or potentially Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG GOOGL Bard were used to create them. 

See Also: Say Hi To ChatGPT’ Incognito Mode:’ Open AI Strives To Give Users More Data Control

The report highlighted instances where chatbots generated false information for published articles, including a false claim of President Joe Biden’s death. Another chatbot-created piece featured falsified information about an architect’s life and work in an obituary. Additionally, TNewsNetwork ran an unverified story about the deaths of thousands of soldiers in the Russia-Ukraine war based on a YouTube video.

At least two dozen of these websites leveraged Google’s ad technology to generate revenue, even though the company’s policies prohibit Google ads from being displayed on pages containing “low-value content” or “replicated content,” regardless of how it was created. 

The report noted that Google had removed the ads now from certain websites. 

Why It’s Important: Previously, it was reported that the Tech website CNET published dozens of articles since November 2022 using AI tools without formally informing the readers. 

Google CEO Sundar Pichai previously acknowledged that AI generally struggles with “hallucination problems” with no clear explanation. 

Fake news, like the fabricated story about a child trafficking ring out of a Washington pizzeria during the 2016 presidential election, had been severely damaging even without the help of AI. 

However, now it has gotten easier, faster and cheaper, the report stated. 

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