The Rise of Low-Quality and Fake Content in the Age of Generative AI
Introduction
In recent years, the internet has become flooded with a staggering amount of content. Unfortunately, not all of it is reliable or trustworthy. The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard has contributed to the proliferation of low-quality and even fake content. This alarming trend is financially supported by major global brands’ advertising budgets, which inadvertently contribute to the spread of misinformation and disinformation.
The Impact of Generative AI on Content Quality
The availability of generative AI tools has made it easier than ever to create content at scale. However, the lack of human oversight and the reliance on AI-generated content has resulted in a flood of articles that are misleading, uninformed, or outright false. Websites that operate with little or no human intervention and publish articles largely or entirely composed by bots are known as “untrustworthy artificial intelligence-generated news and information (UAIN) websites.”
According to a recent analysis by NewsGuard, a company that provides trust ratings to online news outlets, the proliferation of low-quality AI-generated content is financially supported by the advertising budgets of major global brands, including tech giants and banks. These ads, placed programmatically, often appear on websites that host fake news, disinformation, or low-quality content, without the brands’ knowledge.
NewsGuard’s research found that many legitimate companies unknowingly advertise on UAIN websites, compromising their brand safety. While brands and advertising agencies have exclusion lists to prevent their ads from appearing on unwanted websites, these lists are not always up to date, allowing programmatic advertising to fund UAIN sites.
Incentives for Websites to Publish Low-Quality Content
Programmatic advertising provides websites with a financial incentive to publish content frequently, regardless of its quality. Websites can generate revenue through ad placements, encouraging them to prioritize quantity over quality. For example, NewsGuard identified the UAIN website world-today-news.com, which published approximately 8,600 articles in a single week. This translates to an average of around 1,200 articles per day, far exceeding the output of reputable news organizations like The New York Times.
This overwhelming volume of content creates a challenging environment for users to discern reliable information from misinformation. The unchecked proliferation of low-quality AI-generated content undermines the credibility of online sources and poses a significant threat to the dissemination of accurate information.
The Role of Major Brands
NewsGuard’s analysis revealed that major global brands unknowingly advertise on UAIN websites through programmatic advertising. These brands include tech giants, banks, luxury department stores, sportswear brands, appliance makers, consumer technology companies, e-commerce platforms, broadband providers, streaming services, and a major European supermarket chain.
Although these brands may have exclusion lists, the dynamic nature of the advertising ecosystem means that their ads can still end up on UAIN sites. NewsGuard did not disclose the names of the brands to avoid stigmatizing them, as they may not be aware of their ads’ placement. However, it is crucial for these brands to monitor and update their exclusion lists regularly to ensure their ads do not appear alongside unreliable or low-quality content.
Google’s Role and Responsibility
Google, as one of the largest advertising platforms, plays a significant role in the monetization of UAIN sites. NewsGuard reached out to Google multiple times for comment on its involvement, but the company failed to provide an adequate response. Google’s advertising policies should prohibit ads from appearing on pages with “spammy auto-generated content,” including AI-generated content that lacks originality or value.
Despite the policies in place, NewsGuard’s research found that over 90% of the identified ads on UAIN sites were served by Google Ads, generating billions of dollars in revenue for the tech giant. This highlights the need for stricter enforcement of advertising policies to ensure brand safety and protect users from consuming misleading or false information.
Expanding Perspectives: Deeper Insights into the Issue
The spread of low-quality and fake content facilitated by generative AI extends beyond the financial support of major brands. By delving deeper into the topic, we can explore related concepts and share practical examples to captivate readers.
1. Increasing Accessibility to AI Tools:
Generative AI tools are becoming more accessible and user-friendly, empowering individuals and organizations to create content without a deep understanding of the underlying technology. While this opens up exciting opportunities for creativity and innovation, it also raises concerns about the responsible use of AI-generated content.
2. Ethical Implications of AI-Generated Content:
The widespread production of AI-generated content blurs the lines between human-created and AI-created information. It challenges traditional notions of authenticity, credibility, and authorship. Addressing the ethical implications of such content requires thoughtful consideration of transparency, disclosure, and accountability.
3. The Role of AI in Fact-Checking and Verification:
As AI continues to advance, there is potential for its application in fact-checking and verification processes. AI algorithms could assist in identifying and flagging misleading or false information, helping users navigate the sea of content more effectively. However, deploying these AI-driven verification tools also raises concerns about biases, limitations, and the need for human oversight.
4. Educating Users about AI-Generated Content:
With the prevalence of AI-generated content, it becomes imperative to educate internet users about the existence of such content and its potential implications. Promoting digital literacy and critical thinking skills can empower individuals to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources, fostering a more informed online community.
Conclusion
The rise of low-quality and fake content in the age of generative AI presents a significant challenge for online users seeking reliable information. The financial support from major brands’ advertising budgets inadvertently fuels the proliferation of unreliable content. While programmatic advertising provides financial incentives for websites to publish content at a high volume, it also allows low-quality AI-generated content to thrive. Brands and advertising platforms, particularly Google, must take greater responsibility in enforcing advertising policies to protect users and preserve the integrity of online information.
As technology continues to evolve, it is crucial to approach the issue of low-quality AI-generated content from various perspectives. By delving deeper into related concepts and exploring the ethical implications, we can gain a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges at hand. Educating users about AI-generated content and promoting critical thinking skills is essential in fostering an online environment that prioritizes reliable information dissemination.
Summary:
Generative AI has led to an increase in low-quality and fake content on the internet. Major brands unknowingly fund these websites through programmatic advertising, compromising their brand safety. The rise of low-quality AI-generated content undermines the credibility of online sources and poses a threat to accurate information dissemination. Google’s advertising policies should prohibit ads from appearing on pages with spammy auto-generated content. Expanding perspectives on the issue involve discussing the increasing accessibility to AI tools, ethical implications, AI’s role in fact-checking, and educating users about AI-generated content.
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Generative AI has led to an increase in websites producing low-quality or fake content, and the advertising budgets of major brands could fund them.
The internet is flooded not only with low-quality content, but also with misleading, uninformed, or outright false content.
The availability of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, meanwhile, has meant that AI-generated news and insights have added to this flood of content over the past year.
A new analysis by NewsGuard, a company that provides trust ratings to online news outlets, has found that the proliferation of this low-quality AI-generated content is financially supported by the advertising budgets of major global brands, including tech giants and banks.
Ads appear to be programmatically generated, so brands don’t necessarily choose to advertise on websites that NewsGuard refers to as “untrustworthy artificial intelligence-generated news and information (UAIN) websites.”
According to NewsGuard, most ads are placed by Google and fail to protect the brand safety of companies, as many legitimate companies don’t want to be seen as advertisements on sites that host fake news, disinformation, or just plain – quality content.
NewsGuard, which claims to provide “transparent tools to counter disinformation on behalf of readers, brands and democracies,” defines UAINs as websites that operate with little or no human oversight and publish articles written largely or entirely by bots.
Their analysts have added 217 sites to its UAIN site tracker, many of which appear to be funded entirely by programmatic advertising.
Incentivized to post low quality content
Because websites can make money from programmatic advertising, they have an incentive to post often. One UAIN identified by the company — world-today-news.com — published about 8,600 articles in the week of June 9 to June 15 this year. This is an average of around 1,200 items per day.
The New York Times, by comparison, publishes about 150 articles a day, with a large number of employees.
NewsGuard did not name the big brands advertising on these low-quality websites, as they don’t expect brands to know their ads are ending up on those sites.
They said the brands include six major banks and financial services companies, four luxury department stores, three leading sportswear brands, three appliance makers, two of the world’s largest consumer technology companies, two global e-commerce, two US broadband providers, three streaming services, a Silicon Valley digital platform and a major European supermarket chain.
Many brands and advertising agencies have “exclusion lists” that prevent their ads from showing on unwanted websites, but according to NewsGuard, these lists aren’t always up to date.
In its report, the company behind the internet trust tool says it has contacted Google several times asking for comments on its monetization of UIAN sites.
Google asked for more context via email, and after receiving the add-on as of June 25, Google stopped responding.
Google’s advertising policies should prohibit sites from placing ads served by Google on pages that include “spammy auto-generated content,” which can be AI-generated content that doesn’t produce anything original or of “sufficient value.”
An earlier NewsGuard report this year highlighted how AI chatbots were being used to publish a new wave of fake news and disinformation online.
In their latest research, conducted between May and June of this year, the analysts found 393 programmatic ads from 141 major brands that appeared on 55 of 217 UAIN sites.
Analysts were scouting sites from the US, Germany, France and Italy.
All of the identified ads appeared on pages that contained error messages generated by AI chatbots, which said things like: “Sorry, as an AI language model, I’m unable to access external links or websites myself.”
More than 90% of these ads were served by Google Ads, a platform that generates billions in revenue for Google every year.
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