"Last year, Icelandic teacher María Hjálmtýsdóttir wrote a column for The Guardian on the country's experiment with a 36-hour workweek. The piece offered rich personal anecdotes that only a local could provide. Readers learned, for instance, that Hjálmtýsdóttir's husband is using some of his newfound free time to chat with his fellow hobbyist pigeon keepers. In the months since her Guardian piece came out, Hjálmtýsdóttir's essay has been stripped of its color, repackaged,"
"These sites appear to be part of a new wave of AI-generated content farms that swoop in to seize dormant domains. Some of the AI news sites led previous lives unrelated to news, like Boston Organics, the website of a former produce delivery service that now covers everything from octopuses in British waters ("England is facing an unprecedented invasion, the problem is, it's octopuses, and they're devouring everything in their path") to how long chili stays good in the fridge."
Iceland's experiment with a 36-hour workweek produced vivid local anecdotes, such as a husband using newfound free time to chat with pigeon hobbyists. Those anecdotes have been stripped of local color and redistributed widely across obscure outlets under sensational headlines. Sites such as Dixie Sun News, Carroll County Observer, and WECB.fm framed the story with Gen Z-focused clickbait. Many of the outlets appear to be AI-generated content farms that seize dormant domains and churn out low-quality content. Some reclaimed sites previously served unrelated purposes, like Boston Organics, once a produce-delivery website. Other domains hide AI content away from the homepage, as with Paris2018.com. The result spreads sloppified, misleading coverage and undermines trust in detailed local reporting.
Read at Nieman Lab
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]