Corporate Journalism Misadventures With AI; a Disturbing Spike in Hate Crimes–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Oct. 30, 2023

Indy Digest: Oct. 30, 2023

There’s a whole lot of stuff on my to-do list this week—get ready for Palm Springs Pride; start work on our Best of Coachella Valley issue; and, among other things, finalize and send out the Independent’s policy on the use of artificial intelligence.

AI has arrived in the world of journalism, in both big ways and small. An example of the small: A recent update of Newspack, the WordPress-based digital platform used by the Independent, included an AI tool that can write an article’s “summary,” the short blurb used on webpage section pages, in social media posts and in various other places that summarizes the gist of the article in a sentence or two.

I tried it for the first time recently, asking it to write a 30-word summary for one of our news pieces. It spit out 71 words that could best be described as “almost coherent.” I deleted those words and wrote the summary myself.

As for big ways in which it has arrived … well, here’s a story from The Washington Post about a really stupid big way—and, surprise surprise, it involves Gannett:

Staffers at Reviewed, a USA Today-owned website devoted to shopping recommendations, were about to end their workday Friday when one of them noticed something strange:

Articles were publishing on the site by writers none of them had ever heard of — and using suspiciously similar language.

Jaime Carrillo, a senior staff writer, couldn’t figure out where the reviews—for products like insulated drink tumblers and scuba gear—were coming from. “I stayed at my desk for the next hour, just kind of panicking over this new website that none of us had a hand in,” he said.

The reviews were so vague about the products they were purportedly reviewing that Carrillo and his colleagues started to suspect they had been produced by artificial intelligence.

Worse, some of the authors didn’t appear to exist.

Not only were Reviewed staffers unfamiliar with the bylines on the stories—names like “Breanna Miller” and “Avery Williamson”—they were unable to find evidence of writers by those names on LinkedIn or any professional websites.

Reviewed’s employees, who are unionized through the NewsGuild of New York, allege that the articles are a covert attempt by parent company Gannett to undermine workers, at a time when many publishers are experimenting with AI content to cut costs.

It’s worth noting Gannett denies these articles were written by AI. Here’s a quote from later in the piece: “In a statement to The Post, a spokesperson said the articles—many of which have now been deleted—were created through a deal with a marketing firm to generate paid search-engine traffic. While Gannett concedes the original articles ‘did not meet our affiliate standards,’ officials deny they were written by AI.”

(There’s also the matter of the multiple ethical messes involved with Gannett hiring a marketing firm to write articles in an effort to get more web traffic, publishing those articles under what seem to be fake bylines, and then publishing bios and photos for those apparently-fake writers, but that’s a topic for another time.)

While I have yet to write our AI policy, here’s a summary of what will be in it (written by yours truly, not AI): While there are huge ethical concerns surrounding AI—especially plagiarism/copyright surrounding chatbots and other tools that “learn” by compiling original works from the internet—it is here, and it is being used. So if AI is ever used to help compose any portion of a piece that appears in the Independent, the writer must disclose that to the editor, and the Independent will disclose that to our readers.

It’s a strange time to be a journalist, in so many ways. But it’s certainly never boring.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• AI is not just on the minds of misguided Gannett execs and yours truly. (I really hope that’s the last time I am ever in the same sentence as “misguided Gannett execs.”) It’s also on the mind of President Biden. The New York Times reports: “President Biden signed a far-reaching executive order on artificial intelligence on Monday, requiring that companies report to the federal government about the risks that their systems could aid countries or terrorists to make weapons of mass destruction. The order also seeks to lessen the dangers of ‘deep fakes’ that could swing elections or swindle consumers. ‘Deep fakes use A.I.-generated audio and video to smear reputations, spread fake news and commit fraud,’ Mr. Biden said at the signing of the order at the White House. He described his concern that fraudsters could take three seconds of a person’s voice and manipulate its content, turning an innocent comment into something more sinister that would quickly go viral. … The order is an effort by Mr. Biden to show that the United States, considered the leading power in fast-moving artificial intelligence technology, will also take the lead in its regulation. Already, Europe is moving ahead with rules of its own, and Vice President Kamala Harris is traveling to London this week to represent the United States at an international conference organized by Britain’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak.”

• The war in Israel and Gaza is stirring up a whole lot of hate. The Washington Post reports: “Federal officials say they are responding to a rise in threats against Arab, Jewish and Muslim communities as the war in Gaza intensifies, coordinating with thousands of police departments across the country to better understand the threats and deploy resources. Top FBI officials held a nearly 45-minute call Friday with more than 2,400 local police department heads—including leaders of university police forces—to urge them to share with one another information about threats and to take each reported threat seriously. … Even before the Israel-Gaza war began this month, hate crimes in the country—including crimes against Jews and Muslims—had been on the rise. Federal officials have not released data showing how many threats or incidents have been reported since Hamas first attacked Israeli civilians and military installations on Oct. 7, triggering a massive and ongoing Israeli response. But reporting on specific incidents and early data from nongovernment experts who study hate crimes suggest that the spike is significant.”

• More Californians have slipped into poverty following the expiration of pandemic-era government-assistance programs. Our partners at Calmatters say: “California’s poverty rate climbed in the first quarter of 2023, the latest quarter measured by the Public Policy Institute of California. Poverty increased from 11.7% in 2021 to 13.2%, the institute said, with 5 million people living in poverty. … During the pandemic, the federal government expanded such social safety net programs as tax credits for families with children and emergency food assistance, which lowered poverty rates nationwide. Poverty rates jumped when those expansions expired late last year and earlier this year, said Caroline Danielson, a researcher at the institute. ‘We’re seeing an uptick in poverty. That’s not because the economy is worse—it’s actually improving—but it’s because we temporarily, using federal funds mainly, had expansions of safety net programs,’ she said. About 3.2 million more Californians would be in poverty without any safety net programs, Danielson said. Expanded CalFresh food assistance alone kept 1.1 million people out of poverty in the first quarter of 2023, (after which) that expansion expired, the report said.”

• The Statue of Liberty is weeping at the depressing irony. Politico reports: “Mayor Eric Adams is ramping up efforts to fly migrants to the destination of their choice, figuring it’s cheaper than sheltering them for months on end. And he’s simultaneously warning that those opting to stay in New York may be in for a winter of sleeping outside with shelters full. ‘When you are out of room, that means you’re out of room,’ Adams told reporters Tuesday. ‘Every year, my relatives show up for Thanksgiving, and they want to all sleep at my house. There’s no more room. That’s where we are right now.’ In recent days, the mayor of the nation’s largest city has been steering people who were vacated from city shelters to a Manhattan office devoted solely to booking plane tickets, creating more uncertainty for the new arrivals. Dispersing them across the nation and world harkens back to when the Democratic mayor ripped Republican governors in Texas and Florida for sending migrants from the southern border to liberal enclaves. But City Hall officials defend their effort as different because the migrants aren’t being coerced to leave. Still, critics say Adams’ actions sends a message lacking in compassion.”

• If you use eye drops, take note, because the FDA is recommending a whole lot of brands be avoided. NPR explains: “U.S. health officials are warning consumers to stop using more than two dozen over-the-counter eye drop products due to the potential risk of eye infection that could lead to vision loss. The Food and Drug Administration on Friday issued the alert for 26 products from the following brands: CVS Health, Leader (Cardinal Health), Rugby (Cardinal Health), Rite Aid, Target Up&Up and Velocity Pharma. The federal regulatory agency said it recommended the manufacturers to recall … products on Wednesday, after FDA investigators found bacterial contamination in critical drug production areas of a manufacturing facility…. None of the products have caused adverse effects in consumers yet, they added. It’s the FDA’s latest statements in a series of warnings against using eyedrop products linked to potential contamination.”

• And finally … a while back, we mentioned a particularly aggressive sea otter who was going after surfers in the Santa Cruz area. Well, the Los Angeles Times has a happy update: “Sea otter 841—the surfboard-biting-and-stealing mammal who became a national sensation this summer—has given birth to a fluffy pup. On Wednesday afternoon, she was seen far off the Santa Cruz coast, rolling and spinning in the kelp and waves with a little otter pup on her belly. … The pup’s birth, which has yet to be officially confirmed by state and federal wildlife authorities, may explain 841’s unusually aggressive behavior toward multiple surfers—at least one of whom abandoned their board and saw it carted off by the slick-haired cousin of the skunk and weasel. The gestational period for otters is roughly six months, and during this period, hormonal changes can cause the animal to become aggressive, experts say.”

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