Concerns are growing about the proliferation of AI-generated news websites and their potential impact on the quality of online information.
NewsGuard, a news rating agency, has identified 49 AI-generated news and information websites spanning seven languages, including Chinese, Czech, English, French, Portuguese, Tagalog, and Thai. These sites, part of a new generation of content farms, churn out a high volume of articles on various topics such as politics, health, entertainment, finance, and technology.
A content farm, also known as a content mill, is a website or organisation that generates a large volume of low-quality, keyword-laden articles with the primary goal of attracting web traffic and generating revenue from advertisements.
Many of these sites fail to disclose their ownership or control and feature bland language and repetitive phrases, which are hallmarks of AI-generated content. They are often saturated with advertisements, indicating they are designed to generate revenue from programmatic ads.
This model is similar to the first generation of human-operated content farms, raising concerns about the spread of misinformation online. Articles often lack bylines, credited to generic names like “Admin” or “Editor,” or feature fake author profiles. Some websites even include algorithmically generated pages like About Us and Privacy Policy, which are incomplete or generic, highlighting the involvement of AI tools.
The industry and regulators will need to be vigilant in identifying and combating the spread of AI-generated content farms to maintain the integrity of online information and protect against the potential harm caused by low-quality or false narratives.