Journalists at USA Today’s product review site, Reviewed, sounded the alarm, claiming some of the affiliate marketing articles published were AI-generated. According to a Washington Post report, staff writers and the union pointed to two reviews specifically, one for scuba masks and another for vacuum tumblers. The writers claim that the stories have similar wording throughout.
According to recent reporting, the newly published shopping page where the articles were found was taken down as of Tuesday, Oct. 24, but the individual articles can still be found. Reviewed employees, represented by The NewsGuild of New York, claimed this was an attempt by the company to replace their labor and cut costs.
But a spokesperson at Reviewed told the Post that the articles were not AI-generated. Instead, the spokesperson said that freelancers that were hired by a third party wrote the articles, adding, “the pages were deployed without affiliate disclaimers and did not meet our editorial standards.”
However, the union claims that some freelancers credited with the reviews aren’t real, with writers at Reviewed saying they could not find evidence online that they existed.
The outcry comes a week after a one-day strike staged by Reviewed’s unionized employees, and as union members across the industry and in Hollywood are trying to negotiate for protections against the use of AI.
It’s been about a month since Hollywood writers returned to work after securing some AI protections. Now, actors and journalists hope to reach a deal of their own protecting their work against AI.