The platform providing transparent tools to counter misinformation, NewsGuard, has revealed that the number of websites using AI-generated content to spread fake news has increased to 713 as of February 22, 2024.
The company in its Tracking AI enabled misinformation
AI deriving misinformation
While noting that the rollout of generative artificial intelligence tools has been a boon to content farms and misinformation purveyors alike, NewsGuard in the report said:
This obscures that the sites operate with little to no human oversight and publish articles written largely or entirely by bots, rather than presenting traditionally created and edited journalism, with human oversight. report said most of the websites have little to no human oversight and publish only AI-generated news.
“To date, NewsGuard’s team has identified 713 Unreliable AI-generated news and information websites, labeled “UAINS,” spanning 15 languages: Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, and Turkish.
“These websites typically have generic names, such as iBusiness Day, Ireland Top News, and Daily Time Update, which to a consumer appear to be established news sites.
The publications are found in 15 languages as diverse as Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, and Turkish.
Ad revenue as a motive
The report indicated that, in many cases, the revenue model for the websites is programmatic advertising under which the ad-tech industry delivers ads without regard to the nature or quality of the website. It added that top brands are unintentionally supporting these sites as a result.
NewsGuard warned that unless brands take steps to exclude untrustworthy sites, their ads would continue to appear on these types of sites, creating an economic incentive for their creation at scale.
In addition to the sites included in the Tracker, NewsGuard said it also identified a Chinese-government run website using AI-generated text as authority for the false claim that the U.S. operates a bioweapons lab in Kazakhstan infecting camels to endanger people in China.
