Employees working at Reviewed, USA Today’s shopping recommendations website, found that some stories were credited to writers they never heard of and used a similar template. According to The Washington Post, staffers suspected that the articles created by “Breanna Miller” and “Avery Williamson,” who they couldn’t find on LinkedIn, may have come from artificial intelligence. The Post was also unable to verify the identity of the writers. The NewsGuild of New York, a union that represents the Reviewed employees, alleged on X, formerly Twitter, that Gannett, USA Today’s owner, was secretly using AI to cut content costs. Jaime Carrillo, a senior writer, told the outlet that the “gobbledygook” reviews began to appear just weeks after employees conducted a one-day strike to call for a new contract. A Gannett spokesperson said the articles were not made by AI but acknowledged that they “did not meet our affiliate standards.” Many of the stories have now been deleted.
BREAKING: @Gannett made another attempt to use AI this week, posting a series of AI-generated reviews on its consumer review site @Reviewed.
After an outcry from unionized staff, the posts seem to have come down.
