Moderators of the popular subreddit r/biohackers have banned standalone posts about peptides and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) after discovering that companies in those industries were systematically spamming the community to manipulate AI chatbot responses. Jason Koebler reports for 404 Media that the tactic is part of a broader activity, often known as Generative Engine Optimization …
An AI detection tool called Pangram has become the dominant force in identifying AI-generated writing, influencing decisions at publishers, universities, and scientific institutions. Matteo Wong reports for The Atlantic that Pangram has been used to flag a horror novel pulled before publication, articles in major newspapers, award-winning short stories, and portions of Pope Leo XIV’s …
AI-generated avatars are flooding social media feeds, promoting products and building loyal audiences, often without disclosing that they are not real people. Charlie Warzel reports for The Atlantic, drawing on an interview with New York Times technology reporter Tiffany Hsu, who has investigated the rise of synthetic influencers selling supplements and other consumer products. One …
The companies behind AI-powered search tools like Google’s AI Mode and ChatGPT are increasingly shaping which brands consumers discover. The SEO industry is racing to exploit that influence, and some of the tactics are already working. The Verge reports on a growing wave of manipulation attempts targeting AI search systems. One widespread tactic involves companies …
Romance novelist Coral Hart produces over 200 books annually using artificial intelligence, earning six figures from sales on Amazon. What once took her months now takes 45 minutes per novel. Alexandra Alter reports for The New York Times that the romance industry is rapidly adopting AI writing tools, despite significant controversy within the community. Hart, …
Governments in the United Kingdom and Ireland are taking legislative action to address the misuse of artificial intelligence in creating non-consensual images and voice recordings. The UK government is enforcing a law this week that makes it a criminal offense to create or request non-consensual intimate images. This move specifically targets tools like the Grok …
Mathias Schindler, a longtime Wikipedia contributor and co-founder of Wikimedia Germany, reports on a troubling discovery at the 39C3 conference in Hamburg. While developing a tool to check ISBN checksums in German Wikipedia, he uncovered a significant problem: articles containing completely fabricated literature references generated by large language models. The issue emerged when Schindler found …
A Toronto magazine editor’s routine fact-check has exposed what appears to be an elaborate fraud spanning dozens of publications worldwide. The case reveals how artificial intelligence tools have made fabricating journalism remarkably easy. Nicholas Hune-Brown reports for The Local about his discovery of a writer named Victoria Goldiee, whose work contained fabricated quotes, invented sources …
A suspected AI-generated image showing false damage to a railway bridge halted 32 trains following an earthquake in Lancashire and the southern Lake District. The BBC reports that Network Rail stopped services across Carlisle Bridge in Lancaster at 00:30 GMT on Thursday after the manipulated picture appeared on social media. A BBC journalist analysed the …
The search engine Kagi has launched a feature called SlopStop to combat low-quality, AI-generated content. The system allows users to flag and help downrank what the company calls “AI slop” in web, image, and video search results. Kagi reports on its company blog that it defines AI slop as deceptive or low-value content created to …