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AI-powered news sites are dumb and Redditors managed to trick them

By - | Views: 31,885

This is pretty amusing to see. Nothing really related to Linux / Steam Deck gaming, but more a state of the industry post that I thought you might also find fun. Redditors managed to trick an AI-powered news scraper.

AI powered news is something that is (annoyingly) going to become more common, whether we like it or not. Many bigger publishers are making moves into AI written articles. The problem is, "AI" is dumb and the articles are always full of errors or in this case — posting about something completely made up.

Redditors played a bit of an internet joke getting hyped over a fake announcement for World of Warcraft adding in the "Glorbo". The post titled "I’m so excited they finally introduced Glorbo!!!" reads:

Honestly, this new feature makes me so happy! I just really want some major bot operated news websites to publish an article about this.

I have to say, since they started hinting at it in Hearthstone in 1994, it was obvious that they would introduce Glorbo to World of Warcraft sooner or later. I feel like Dragonflight has been win after win so far, like when they brought back Chen Stormstout as the end boss of the new Karazhan? Absolutely amazing!

Feel free to comment below what features and stories you want to see in the future! Maybe you’ll be quoted on some trustworthy news websites as well!

That same day a website named "The Portal" scraped it, ran it through their silly "AI" processor and published an article about it, even including quotes from the user above about hoping "some major bot operated news websites to publish an article about this". They've since removed it but you can see it thanks to the Wayback Machine:

Even funnier, is that same website then also did an article noting "World of Warcraft (WoW) players are expressing their frustration with popular gaming sites that appear to be using AI to scrape content from their subreddit". AI article bots causing a nice self-own there.

A growing problem that will no doubt continue to get worse. You've all seen just how terrible the likes of Google search is now right? It's thanks to AI, constant clickbait farms hammering SEO techniques to become the top result and all sorts of trickery. Search engines are a mess now.

Why do websites do it? Pretty simple really: the more they publish about big-name stuff, the more they could rank up in search engines, get people to click to them and get advert revenue. 

One thing is for sure, you won't see any AI written stuff here. I may not be the best writer but at least I'm real…last I checked.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial, Misc
39 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
21 comments
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Klaas Jul 21, 2023
Quotebut at least I'm real…last I checked.
That's very suspicious since that is exactly what I would expect a bot to write.
Philadelphus Jul 21, 2023
Quoting: LiamI may not be the best writer but at least I'm real…last I checked.
And that's why Liam has my vote! …er, modest monthly monetary support, at least!
It wouldn't surprise me to find out that a good many of the other tech news websites do the exact thing, but do a few searches prior to publishing. Which is why I come here to get news!
Liam Dawe Jul 21, 2023
Quoting: neon_soaked_chryssalidIt wouldn't surprise me to find out that a good many of the other tech news websites do the exact thing, but do a few searches prior to publishing. Which is why I come here to get news!
They do actually, there's been lots of news floating around about a few of the bigger publishers who own multiple sites starting to put out AI articles.
mr-victory Jul 21, 2023
I would like to have a discussion with Lucy Reed.
Highball Jul 21, 2023
I just stop reading the entire site if I think they are using AI to write the articles. Same with YouTube channels if they use TTS to read a script. There are plenty of other sites to read. But really I don't read popular news websites.
junibegood Jul 21, 2023
Human writers sometimes get fooled by funny fake articles and relay them on serious sites as if they were actual news.

I'm not sure if what happened here is a failure from the AI at showing intelligence or a success at mimicking human stupidity.

QuoteI'm real…last I checked.

And how do you check that exactly ?
Craggles086 Jul 21, 2023
“ I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. ”

“ .. but at least I'm real…last I checked. “

I detect a theme here. Seems to me you are insistent on claiming your existence.
eridanired123 Jul 21, 2023
Quoting: junibegoodAnd how do you check that exactly ?

Easy, there is a bot that tells if you are one…
Klaas Jul 22, 2023
Quoting: eridanired123Easy, there is a bot that tells if you are one…
I thought that was a tool to get free training data for Google's AIs and to get more data for targeted ads.
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