Mark Neužil, emerging media professor at the University of St. Thomas College of Arts and Sciences, recently weighed in on the topic of “zombie” newspapers that are living on (in strange ways) through artificial intelligence.
From the story:
According to a June 2022 report by The New York Times, at least 2,500 American newspapers have shut down since 2005. What happens when a reputable newspaper’s website is turned into a AI-driven content farm?
“There is no doubt that content is being generated by AI programs of many types and some of it ends up in what used to be a respectable mainstream newspaper’s website,” said Mark Neužil, journalism professor at the University of St. Thomas, in an email. “At the same time, very little can be done about it now, other than educating the public that this is happening and teaching them to be critical consumers of the media. Check it out! Dig into it! Verify with a trusted source! That sort of thing.”
