Gizmodo’s io9 Published an AI-Generated Star Wars Article That Was Filled With Errors
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.
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“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 to acquire 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.
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