A new byline showed up Wednesday on the site of io9, the genre-entertainment section of Gizmodo tech website: “Gizmodo Bot.” And the site’s editorial staff appears to have not had any input or advance notice of the new AI-generated story about Star Wars movies and TV shows, which is said to have been the work of parent company G/O Media.
The AI-generated story was headlined “A Chronological List of Star Wars Movies & TV Shows.” Among other issues, the article presents the titles in a numbered list that is not actually in chronological order. It also omits any mention of Disney+’s Star Wars series “Andor,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and “The Book of Boba Fett” and lists “The Clone Wars” series as coming after the events of “The Rise of Skywalker,” which is incorrect.
“As you may have seen today, an AI-generated article appeared on io9,” James Whitbrook, deputy editor at io9 and Gizmodo, tweeted about the situation. “I was informed approximately 10 minutes beforehand, and no one at io9 played a part in its editing or publication.”
Whitbrook said he sent a statement to G/O Media along with “a lengthy list of corrections.” In part, his statement said, “The article published on io9 today rejects the very standards this team holds itself to on a daily basis as critics and as reporters. It is shoddily written, it is riddled with basic errors; in closing the comments section off, it denies our readers, the lifeblood of this network, the chance to publicly hold us accountable, and to call this work exactly what it is: embarrassing, unpublishable, disrespectful of both the audience and the people who work here, and a blow to our authority and integrity.”
He continued, “It is shameful that this work has been put to our audience and to our peers in the industry as a window to G/O’s future, and it is shameful that we as a team have had to spend an egregious amount of time away from our actual work to make it clear to you the unacceptable errors made in publishing this piece.”
A rep for G/O Media did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the Gizmodo Media Group Union, which is affiliated with WGA East, the AI effort has “been pushed by” G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller, recently hired editorial director Merrill Brown and deputy editorial director Lea Goldman.
In 2019, publishing veteran Spanfeller and private-equity firm Great Hill Partners teamed up toacquire Gizmodo Media Group(previously part of Gawker Media) and The onion from Univision. G/O Media’s sites include Gizmodo, The Onion, The A.V. Club, Jezebel and Deadspin.
