An Entire "Local Newspaper" Just Shut Down When All Its Reporters Were Busted as AI Fakes

"A joint investigation by The Florida Trib and the KCRW podcast Question Everything found that a so-called "independent, locally owned digital news publication" dubbed the South Florida Standard was in reality an AI-generated Potemkin village staffed entirely by fake writers. The writers had AI-generated profile pictures and made-up biographies to match their beats - a practice that's become a hallmark sign of AI-fabricated "journalists" - and churned out an extraordinary amount of content, much of which turned out to be plagiarized from other outlets."

"After the Trib revealed that all of the alleged journalists staffing the site were fake, the whole operation shut down. "Clearly, whoever's behind this does not care about the truth," The Poynter Institute's Kelly McBride told the Trib, adding that the "only way to address it is to try and find somebody who actually controls the keys to this website." That's exactly what the Trib did."

"That's exactly what the Trib did. With the help of University of South Florida journalism professor Casey Frechette, the real reporters traced the South Florida Standard to more news sites in South Carolina and California - titled the Charleston Sentinel and the San Francisco Download, respectively - and, finally, connected them all to a Philadelphia-based guy named Drew Chapin, who runs an image management firm called The Discoverability Company."

"On the Discoverability Company's website, Chapin describes himself as a "digital fixer for people and businesses who need the internet to tell a better story about them." At first, reached with a list of questions, an unnamed administrator for the South Florida Standard dismissed any connection between the site and Chapin, telling reporters that the faux local news publisher was being developed "with the intent of building search engine authority and selling"

A supposed independent, locally owned digital news publication in South Florida was found to be an AI-generated operation with entirely fake writers. The staff used AI-generated profile pictures and invented biographies aligned to assigned beats. The site produced large volumes of content, much of which was plagiarized from other outlets. After investigators confirmed that all alleged journalists were fake, the operation was shut down. Investigators then traced the operation to other similar sites in South Carolina and California, and connected them to a Philadelphia-based operator running an image management firm. The operator described his work as improving how people and businesses are represented online. An administrator initially denied any connection while stating the site’s purpose involved building search visibility and selling.

Read at Futurism