"404 had just published cofounder Sam Cole's major investigation into how large language models were sucking up child sexual abuse material. That story took eight months to report. Soon after it came out, a site called Nation World News ran it through an AI content spinner, changing quotes and facts while retaining Cole's byline. The AI version of the story showed up on Google News. 404's original story did not."
"The days of us being able to walk on [to social media], tweet something, walk away, and get people to come to our website are over...We said, if we don't aggressively move people from social media platforms that we don't control to platforms that we do control, this business isn't going to work and we aren't going to have jobs anymore."
404 Media discovered AI-spun replicas of its investigative reporting appearing on platforms such as Google News while original stories were not surfaced. Co-founder Jason Koebler described alarm and a panic attack after repeated incidents, including an eight-month investigation reprinted with altered quotes and facts under the same byline. The newsroom required readers to submit email addresses and placed older stories behind paywalls to build direct audience connections. The January 26, 2024, 2,800-word explainer catalyzed the change. Subscriber numbers rose from about 3,000 in March to more than 11,000, transforming the site's business model almost overnight.
Read at Nieman Lab
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]