Digital media company BuzzFeed has announced plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) for the creation of a significant portion of its content, including online quizzes and articles. BuzzFeed will use OpenAI’s language model chatbot, ChatGPT, to produce more content and increase its growth. CEO Jonah Peretti stated that AI-generated content will move from R&D to become a core aspect of BuzzFeed’s business in 2023. The move follows a trend in journalism, as tech website CNET has also used AI to generate articles.
However, the rise of AI has raised ethical questions, as ChatGPT has been used without permission, including by students to pass exams at universities. The use of AI in journalism has also sparked discussions about the potential replacement of human jobs.
BuzzFeed has struggled with growth, with its stock down 40% over the last year and a net loss of $27 million in its latest quarter. The company has recently laid off a portion of its newsroom employees and has cut about 12% of its workforce to reduce costs. While AI-generated content could save money for the struggling company, some experts question if the technology can provide the human judgment that is still valuable in certain tasks.
The deal with OpenAI, valued at close to $10 million, was reached last year. BuzzFeed will help generate content for Meta’s platforms and train creators to increase their online presence. Despite the increasing use of AI in content creation, Peretti emphasized that humans will always remain the main source of content for BuzzFeed.
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