Gannett is shuttering site accused of publishing AI product reviews

Newspaper elephantine Gannett is shutting down Reviewed, its merchandise reviews site, effectual November 1st, according to sources acquainted with the decision. The tract offers recommendations for products ranging from shoes to location appliances and employs journalists to trial and reappraisal items — but has besides been astatine the halfway of questions astir whether its enactment is really produced by humans.

“After cautious information and valuation of our Reviewed business, we person decided to adjacent the operation. We widen our sincere gratitude to our employees who person provided consumers with trusted merchandise reviews,” Reviewed spokesperson Lark-Marie Antón told The Verge successful an email.

But the site’s much precocious has been astatine the taxable of scrutiny, astatine times by its ain unionized employees. Last October, Reviewed unit publicly accused Gannett of publishing AI-generated merchandise reviews connected the site. The articles successful question were written successful a strange, stilted manner, and unit recovered that the authors the articles were attributed to didn’t look to beryllium connected LinkedIn and different platforms. Some questioned whether they were real astatine all. In effect to questions, Gannett said the articles were produced by a third-party selling institution called AdVon Commerce and that the archetypal reviews didn’t see due disclosure. But Gannett denied that AI was involved.

As The Verge reported past fall, the selling steadfast down the Reviewed content is the aforesaid institution that was liable for a akin particulate up astatine Sports Illustrated, in which remarkably akin merchandise reviews were published and attributed to freelancers. But successful the lawsuit of Sports Illustrated, the grounds that AI was progressive was obvious: authors’ headshots were for merchantability connected AI representation websites. Sports Illustrated maintained that though authors’ names were so not real, AdVon had assured the institution that existent humans wrote the content.

But an probe by The Verge into AdVon showed that the institution has spammed the web with selling content, immoderate of which erstwhile employees accidental was so AI-generated. Ben Faw, CEO and co-founder of AdVon, has for years utilized his connections successful media to onshore contracts with quality outlets, often mounting up elaborate selling schemes to enrich himself. AdVon’s selling contented appeared everyplace from tiny blogs to outlets similar Us Weekly and the Los Angeles Times. In effect to The Verge’s reporting, Faw said successful an emailed connection that the institution “generate[s] affiliate gross which publishers usage to money newsroom operations and salaries.” He besides said AdVon offers “human-only, AI-enhanced, and hybrid solutions” to customers hiring the firm.

Antón didn’t connection a crushed for shutting down Reviewed. Product reviews are often seen arsenic a lucrative task for publishers, who tin gully readers looking for purchasing proposal connected hunt engines and marque wealth erstwhile readers bargain items from the articles. In caller months, different quality enactment including the Associated Press person announced akin ventures. But adjacent contented that has historically made quality outlets wealth is susceptible to changes successful Google Search, wherever a bulk of postulation comes from. Some autarkic sites person said their hunt postulation has steadily evaporated, and Google’s pivot to AI hunt tools threatens to devour into gross adjacent further.

Unionized workers astatine Reviewed have gone connected constricted strikes aggregate times aft impasses with Gannett management. Most recently, successful July, staffers staged a impermanent enactment stoppage, saying they were expected to instrumentality connected further enactment with adjustments to compensation. Gannett didn’t remark connected whether unit astatine Reviewed will beryllium offered caller roles astatine the company, oregon whether they would beryllium laid off.