Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Guardian Nigeria
Published on 2024-03-04 03:10:20
The proliferation of AI-generated content on the internet has become a major concern, with a recent report from NewsGuard revealing that the number of websites using AI to spread fake news has soared to 713 as of February 22. These websites operate with little to no human oversight and publish articles written largely or entirely by bots, rather than traditional journalism with human oversight. The spread of misinformation is a global issue, with these websites found in 15 different languages including Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, and Turkish.
NewsGuard has been tracking the rise of AI-generated misinformation and noted a significant increase from just under 50 websites in May to around 600 in December 2023, representing a more than tenfold rise in just over half a year. The rollout of generative artificial intelligence tools has provided content farms and misinformation purveyors with new opportunities to spread false or unverified claims, posing a serious threat to the integrity of information online.
These AI-generated websites often have generic names that give them the appearance of established news outlets, such as iBusiness Day, Ireland Top News, and Daily Time Update. However, these sites lack the human oversight that is essential for ensuring accuracy and credibility in journalism. The articles churned out by these websites cover a range of subjects including politics, technology, entertainment, and travel, and have been found to contain false claims, celebrity death hoaxes, fabricated events, and distorted information presented as news.
The revenue model for many of these websites is based on programmatic advertising, which allows the ad-tech industry to deliver ads without considering the nature or quality of the website. This means that top brands may unknowingly support these sites by having their ads appear on them. NewsGuard warns that unless brands take steps to exclude untrustworthy sites from their advertising campaigns, they will continue to contribute to the economic incentive for the creation of fake news at scale.
In addition to the websites included in the Tracker, NewsGuard has also identified a Chinese-government run website that uses AI-generated text to spread false claims, including one alleging that the U.S. operates a bio-weapons lab in Kazakhstan infecting camels to endanger people in China. This demonstrates the grave consequences of AI-generated misinformation and the urgent need for increased transparency and accountability in online content.
Overall, the proliferation of AI-generated fake news is a growing threat that requires a coordinated effort from all stakeholders, including governments, tech companies, media organizations, and consumers, to combat. By raising awareness about the dangers of misinformation and investing in tools and strategies to verify the accuracy of online information, we can work towards a more trustworthy and reliable digital landscape.
