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CNET has reportedly been publishing financial articles using AI tech

The company has reportedly been utilizing "automation technology" to help write up some of its financial articles.

Morgan Shaver

January 12, 2023 1:00 PM

CNET

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As reported by outlets like Futurism, CNET appears to be publishing some of its financial articles using the help of “automation technology” or AI. The AI-written articles seemingly began rolling out around November of 2022 as spotted and tweeted about by Authority Hacker co-founder Gael Breton.

After doing some digging, it was revealed that AI-written articles are being published under the generic author name “CNET Money Staff” and cover a variety of topics such as “Should You Break an Early CD for a Better Rate?”

When clicking on the author name, in this case CNET Money Staff, additional information is provided that notes things like, “This article was created using an AI engine and reviewed, fact-checked and edited by our editorial staff.”

Futurism goes on to point out that CNET isn’t the first outlet to use AI, with news agency The Associated Press having used AI since 2014 to help write its earnings reports. It even boasted about being one of the “first news organizations to leverage artificial intelligence.”

What sets AP apart from CNET here though is that AP’s use of AI has been focused (at least from what’s been seen thus far) on filling in blanks for predetermined formats, such as the aforementioned use in writing earnings reports. CNET on the other hand is suggested to be using something more along the lines of OpenAI’s GPT-3 and rather than filling in blanks with things like financial data, is instead drafting up complete articles.

Of course, as mentioned by CNET, these articles also get the benefit of being looked at and edited by real people before being published to the site. All in all, it’s interesting to see the ways in which AI is seemingly being integrated into tasks like filling in data for financial reports and even writing up full articles on financial-related subjects.

For more on the matter, be sure to read through the full report from Futurism, and for more on AI tech check out some of our previous coverage as well such as how Vall-E’s AI voice tool can mimic human speech in seconds, and how DeviantArt is teaming up with DreamUp for AI art tools and controls.

Morgan Shaver

Senior Editor

Morgan is a writer from the frozen wastelands of Maine who enjoys metal music, kpop, horror, and indie games. They're also a Tetris fanatic who's fiercely competitive in games like Tetris 99... and all games in general. But mostly Tetris. You can follow Morgan on Twitter @Author_MShaver.