What's going on here?

@mttaggart LMAO. I'm glad I ditched @arstechnica a little bit ago when their reporting got way too breathlessly credulous about AI bullshit. At least they're experiencing the consequences of their own shoddy reporting.

@mttaggart @catsalad Moltbook is like a back and forth forever with the same slop situation ))><((

@mttaggart that's certainly one way to end their journalistic career. what else has benj and kyle been fabricating? this stuff is never a one-off. it was just brazen enough this time which means they just got eh, sloppy.

@datarama@hachyderm.io @mttaggart@infosec.exchange Same. That fucker has been trying to push generative AI so hard using Ars' platform. But has managed to just barely toe the line.

He finally slipped up hard.

@mttaggart A 404 without an apology is a terrible look for them. In my life you get one shot. If you slop me once I will never use your service again...

@mttaggart thanks for documenting this. I've referenced your thread here

https://aidirtylist.info/citations/ars-technica-publishes-slop-filled-article-about-open-claw/

@implementcontrols @mttaggart it is a friday evening before a long weekend in the US, I'm giving it until tuesday

@cR0w

WILD! Thank you @mttaggart for reporting on this!

❝Okay, an update:

We have pulled the story over concerns that it may have gone against our content policies. I locked the comments, and I'm going to lock this one too, we need some time.

We are doing an investigation right now to figure out exactly what happened. Given that it's Friday afternoon we probably won't have something to report back until Monday, but we will follow up with an explanation for our readers. Edit: Monday is a holiday, my bad, and I don't know what we'll be able to say, so I don't want to over-promise anything.❞

Source: Ars forum https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/journalistic-standards.1511650/#post-44249741

@Sobex @bnys @mttaggart Oh, you see the comment where Aurich called Discord demanding biometrics and scans of ID cards 'a nothingburger'? And the further comments (plural) where he defended that wording?

@mttaggart

We need some time to 'investigate' whether we are using AI or not. We plumb forgot.

LOL

@mttaggart I am shocked, shocked that an article under the name of Ars' resident bot licker contains hallucinations.

@implementcontrols They issued this statement:

https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/journalistic-standards.1511650/post-44249741

@megatronicthronbanks

We have pulled the story over concerns that it may have gone against our content policies. I locked the comments, and I'm going to lock this one too, we need some time.

We are doing an investigation right now to figure out exactly what happened. Given that it's Friday afternoon we probably won't have something to report back until Monday, but we will follow up with an explanation for our readers. Edit: Monday is a holiday, my bad, and I don't know what we'll be able to say, so I don't want to over-promise anything.

Wait until we learn the results (or lack thereof) of this investigation.
Maybe its just CYA, maybe they are seriously looking into this.

@colo_lee What anti-trans piece?

@dusk @cR0w @mttaggart @iampytest1

"…I don't know what we'll be able to say, so I don't want to over-promise anything…"

You say, 'We won't use AI to write our publication'

There's nothing else to say.
There's no promises to be made.

Ars prides itself on technical accuracy. AI slop is a direct hit to their identity. The longer they wait to give a straight answer, the more it *appears* like they're trying to figure out how much they can get away with, instead of just being bluntly transparent.

@mttaggart @theorangetheme I'm genuinely confused about how this was allowed to happen. I tend to assume Ars has better editorial processes than some of the places I've worked, and both writers have long-term specialisations. My most charitable explanation is that someone created a version that they though would be funny and that was accidentally published. Very curious to see what their investigation yields.

@aliide @mttaggart I think people either simply don't care anymore, or workers are under such corporate pressure to either deliver or use AI (or both), and this is the natural endpoint of that. Probably a little of both (I know genuine enthusiasts, for whom I've lost all respects, but I also know people who are basically being forced to use AI by their corporate overlords). I don't know much, but I do know this: journalists don't run newspapers.

@theorangetheme @mttaggart oh, we very much don't, and I've even had editors insert mistakes into my stories before, without giving me readbacks. But this isn't the case of a single word or phrase, this is entire quotes being inserted. I don't buy into the idea that there is pressure on journos to use AI though — the point of the profession is original work, which AI by definition cannot do.

@aliide @mttaggart I hope you're right. I'm trying not to be too cynical, but it's hard lately.

@aliide @mttaggart Thank you for the work that you do, by the way. Good journalism is a treasure, and sorely needed.