6 ms·

BuzzFeed says it will use AI to help create content, stock jumps 150%

85 points by isaacfrond 4y ago

senttoschool 4y ago
At this point, it's a penny stock. If it uses AI to create content, it'll go bankrupt pretty fast. Why? Because Buzzfeed has no proprietary AI content creation tech that others can't easily replicate.
- avereveard 4y ago
  Yeah that is a point that I wish more understood. Many companies think they're mining a new gold mine, but they're just positioning themselves as middlemen, opening up both to competition and being squeeze from their providers.
- ClikeX 4y ago
  Buzzfeed has been pumping out so much meaningless content that I doubt it changes much. They already scrape so much content from /r/askreddit that it might as well be automated already, now they can auto generate the fluff text between citations. Blogs have been becoming less and less relevant to me over the years as companies shifted to creating content for the sake of traffic. Some tech blogs have some really interesting posts, hidden in a sea of glorified Getting Started tutorials.
- spaceman_2020 4y ago
  The only value it has at this point is the brand name, SEO footprint, and existing traffic/followers.
- sfmike 4y ago
  same could be said for a webserver. CNN has been using AI awhile and they're not becoming worthless.
Kaotique 4y ago
This could the beginning of the end for SEO content. The value of these companies will go up for now because of more content and therefor more engagement, but after the world is flooded with mass generated content the engagement will drop and content will eventually become worthless.
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago
  >and content will eventually become worthless Eventually? Are you saying Buzzfeed content is currently NOT worthless? "Am I so out of touch? No, it's the children who are wrong." What does the online future look like? Drowning in mountains of AI generated garbage and AI based search engines who won't be able to differentiate between fake AI generated stuff and the truth, so we'll get garbage answers?
  - whstl 4y ago
    Good questions there. I could agree that Buzzfeed content is perhaps worth very little or even nothing in the grand scheme of the internet, but it's at least a fun past-time to some people. SEO-driven marketing content, however, is worse than worthless: it produces negative value to the mankind. It pollutes Google searches, it distills knowledge even further, it is written by either robots or underpaid freelancers, and it drowns out the work written by professionals in the area.
- luckylion 4y ago
  Or rather, the end of the easy mode search engine. Google has been losing the fight against SEO for the past years. I'm not sure if they don't care (because ads bring in the money, not SERPs) or if they can't. Relying on PageRank / links (like they currently do as the super-dominating factor) doesn't work if larger sites will employ AI (like BuzzFeed). Relying on their ability to tell apart AI and human generated texts? I'm not sure. I'm not an expert, but I fed in text from a German public broadcaster into one of the "identify ChatGPT" things and it said it looked like ChatGPT. I doubt these technologically conservative editors are using ChatGPT to write official reports. Instead, they'd need to understand the topic at hand to judge whether a page is useful in answering the user's question. And at that point, they have an answering machine and no longer need to show search results.
version_five 4y ago
This has shades of the "long island blockchain" thing. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/21/long-island-iced-tea-micro-cap-adds-blockchain-to-name-and-stock-soars.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/21/long-island-iced-tea-micro-c...
- __derek__ 4y ago
  That's exactly what came to my mind, too.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
rrishi 4y ago
In the long run, this may backfire
- dd36 4y ago
  Doubt they have a choice.
- granshaw 4y ago
  In the long run, we’re all dead
Frummy 4y ago
It’s officially a bubble
- rationalist 4y ago
  The question is, where are we on this bubble curve? If I had to guess: at the very beginning. I think there's a long way to go.
Radim 4y ago
> “To be clear, we see the breakthroughs in AI opening up a new era of creativity that will allow humans to harness creativity in new ways with endless opportunities and applications for good,” Peretti said. [0] Depends how the AI part is presented. Explicit or obscured? Upfront or shady? For some people, that makes all the difference. I told my (non-technical) wife about ChatGPT when it came out, and she was revulsed. Not by the technology itself (which she couldn't care less about) but by its "feel". When I prodded deeper, her revulsion came down to "I'd feel cheated if I realized I've been interacting with a machine masquerading as a human". Not the machine itself, but the successful masquerading. I suspect she's not alone, and "being cheated" will be a visceral issue to a lot more people than the early money-grabbers and AI enthusiasts give credit for. > Another correction suggests the AI tool plagiarized. “We’ve replaced phrases that were not entirely original,” according to the correction added to an article on how to close a bank account. Yeah, right. [0] from the linked CNET piece https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/25/tech/cnet-ai-tool-news-stories/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/25/tech/cnet-ai-tool-news-st...
ajsnigrutin 4y ago
At the end of the day... who needs humans? On one side, you have AI creating content, on the other, you have various bots scraping ("reading") that content... what do humans do now? And what is the added value of buzzfeed compared to just conversing with chatGPT?
- Dalewyn 4y ago
  Congratulations, we have reinvented stock trading.
- ClikeX 4y ago
  It makes me think of the Google phone bot talking to other automated phone systems.
- taylorius 4y ago
  "what do humans do now?" Block the whole consarned shit-circus, and go and do something worthwhile instead?
  - throwayyy479087 4y ago
    A lot of Zoomers are REALLY into the outdoors now. It's awesome. "What do humans do now?" "Go outside." is a great answer. I'm going to try fly fishing this year. Might buy a canoe. "What do humans do now?" "Be free of the grips of dopamine scrolling, finally."
- dazc 4y ago
  Don't hang up your gloves just yet, we need bots that can buy stuff (with their own money) first.
  - ajsnigrutin 4y ago
    chatgpt can easily find one of many that scalpers use and modify it, then use the ad money from ai-generated articles to buy stuff online :)
- ptx 4y ago
a13o 4y ago
This is such a self-own to admit your content is so formulaic, a bot can automate writing it. That investors responded positively goes to show you where generative AI is on the hype curve. The trough of disillusionment comes after we accept that if a bot can write it, it's commodity content.
drdunce 4y ago
Did a quick test - yep, it's ready alright: > write a buzzfeed style headline "7 Mind-Blowing Reasons Why You Should Start Wearing Your Socks Inside Out"
- petepete 4y ago
  But what are the reasons?! I feel like I need to know.
  - rationalist 4y ago
    > What are seven mind-blowing reasons to wear socks inside-out? I don't have an account because they require a phone number to create an account, but if I had an account, I would be most curious to see its response to this prompt. (OpenAI ignores your emails if you ask about creating an account without a phone number. I wonder why they really want those phone numbers…)
    - Veen 4y ago
      Is the phone number requirement a US-specific thing? I created my account without giving up my phone number. I'm in the UK.
      - rationalist 4y ago
        I set my VPN to the UK, and was asked for a phone number. Maybe it's a VPN thing? Has anyone else not needed a phone number?
  - drdunce 4y ago
    It says: Improved circulation: Wearing your socks inside out can help improve circulation in your feet and lower legs, which can help prevent varicose veins and other circulation issues. Better hygiene: The inside of your socks is typically cleaner than the outside, so by wearing them inside out, you can keep your feet cleaner and reduce your risk of foot odor and other hygiene issues. Increased durability: The inside of your socks is typically more durable than the outside, so by wearing them inside out, you can help prolong the life of your socks and save money in the long run. Better grip: The inside of your socks is typically more textured than the outside, which can provide better grip and traction when you're walking or running. Fashion statement: Wearing your socks inside out can be a unique and eye-catching fashion statement that sets you apart from the crowd. Personalized look: You can also customize your socks by cutting and sewing them to create a personalized look. Easy to remember: If you're someone who often struggles to match your socks, by wearing them inside out it will be easy to remember which one is which!
ClikeX 4y ago
In BuzzFeeds case this might actually improve the quality.
jtode 4y ago
Buzzfeed: "were gonna cut more jobs!" Wall Street: (sound of stampeding powerties)
FlyingSnake 4y ago
This is giving me “Long Island Blockchain Tea” vibes. It’ll be sad to see latest advances made in AI are used to sell more snake oil.
eriktrautman 4y ago
RIP content writers scratching out a living on a beach in Bali
consumer451 4y ago
Labeled as "Potentially Misleading or Incorrect" on r/investing. Argument being that this could be related more to the fact Facebook will pay BuzzFeed for content. https://old.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/10m0731/buzzfeed_stock_rises_over_150_as_of_this_writing/ https://old.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/10m0731/buzzfeed...
swader999 4y ago
Why is this the end of content? Can't content be good or better in its own right? Maybe AI will do a better job of researching, investigating, creating and writing.
spaceman_2020 4y ago
You Won't BELIEVE What New Technology Buzzfeed is Using to Create Digital Trash!
SentientAtom 4y ago
Lot of fear mongering here, MSN did this years ago and their content is absolutely soulless.
Ekaros 4y ago
Maybe it is possible that AI is used to generate the churn content. And this allows writers to spend time on some actual journalism... Hah, who am I kidding. Probably will get rid of that if AI content generates the money.
- criddell 4y ago
  Buzzfeed did win a Pulitzer for their series exposing the detention of Muslims in China. The potential is there, they just need to let their people do the work they are capable of.
nemo44x 4y ago
This is very interesting in that many journals/blogs/news sites have made strong pushes to unionize in recent years. Technology is now giving them another shot with new AI tech. How will these powerful unions respond?
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
fnordpiglet 4y ago
Sadly it’ll probably become more accurate and less biased.
julesqsjulesqs 4y ago
didn't we already have an era of content farms mass producing SEO content like ten years ago? this doesn't seem any different, their just paying to use AI instead of cheap contractors
giarc 4y ago
Remember during the crypto boom and companies stock would pop on PR that they were accepting crypto payments. There were even companies that were wrongly attributed to having moved into the crypto space and still got the pop. I wonder if ChatGPT or AI is next.
catchnear4321 4y ago
Once the damage is done, BuzzFeed will die. As will many other “content mills.” Good. At least something positive will come of this.
rdxm 4y ago
[dead]
effnorwood 4y ago
[dead]
danjoredd 4y ago
And right when I was thinking on shorting their stock...Thought about doing it 7 months ago, but backed out.
ravenstine 4y ago
Add this to the reasons for why I struggle to take the stock market seriously. Can you make money off trading stocks? Absolutely. Can you successfully use the stock market as part of your retirement plan? Probably. However, I don't "believe" in it. In no way is it operating on any intuitive sense of what would make a stock worth more than another. Today it seems entirely driven by keywords, inverted logic, and the intent to short. I don't see how artificially pumping up the market with institutionalized retirement plans helps either, besides to keep money out of the hands of the middle class and in those who can manipulate it. What's worse is stocks are becoming one of the few ways that said middle class can even get ahead; bonds have a very low yield and could even implode if the US dollar declines, inflation eats at savings, and wages struggle to keep up with said inflation. Articles like this one are going to appear in (the equivalent of) textbooks in the future and people will look at it and wonder how we could not see what's coming for us. On the bright side, I hope this is the beginning of the end for the flurry of bullshit on the internet. Not that there won't be plenty of bullshit to go around, as was the case pre-internet, but the combination of SEO and AI may turn into an ouroboros that consumes itself. Though I think the ouroboros is supposed to represent the cycle of life, so maybe an "ant mill" is more analogous.
- hfdkdfheh 4y ago
  What exactly is the grievance here? Retirement plans aren't obligated to but any particular stock or index fund. You're lumping the entire market into one entity when in reality there are plenty of underperforming stocks that are very purposefully overlooked.
stuntkite 4y ago
The news part for me is that they actually had humans producing all those lists. You don't even need AI to make those things. It seems like the appropriate thing for them to do.

85 points by isaacfrond 4y ago

At this point, it's a penny stock. If it uses AI to create content, it'll go bankrupt pretty fast. Why? Because Buzzfeed has no proprietary AI content creation tech that others can't easily replicate.

avereveard 4y ago
Yeah that is a point that I wish more understood. Many companies think they're mining a new gold mine, but they're just positioning themselves as middlemen, opening up both to competition and being squeeze from their providers.
ClikeX 4y ago
Buzzfeed has been pumping out so much meaningless content that I doubt it changes much. They already scrape so much content from /r/askreddit that it might as well be automated already, now they can auto generate the fluff text between citations. Blogs have been becoming less and less relevant to me over the years as companies shifted to creating content for the sake of traffic. Some tech blogs have some really interesting posts, hidden in a sea of glorified Getting Started tutorials.
spaceman_2020 4y ago
The only value it has at this point is the brand name, SEO footprint, and existing traffic/followers.
sfmike 4y ago
same could be said for a webserver. CNN has been using AI awhile and they're not becoming worthless.

Kaotique 4y ago

This could the beginning of the end for SEO content. The value of these companies will go up for now because of more content and therefor more engagement, but after the world is flooded with mass generated content the engagement will drop and content will eventually become worthless.

ChuckNorris89 4y ago
>and content will eventually become worthless Eventually? Are you saying Buzzfeed content is currently NOT worthless? "Am I so out of touch? No, it's the children who are wrong." What does the online future look like? Drowning in mountains of AI generated garbage and AI based search engines who won't be able to differentiate between fake AI generated stuff and the truth, so we'll get garbage answers?
- whstl 4y ago
  Good questions there. I could agree that Buzzfeed content is perhaps worth very little or even nothing in the grand scheme of the internet, but it's at least a fun past-time to some people. SEO-driven marketing content, however, is worse than worthless: it produces negative value to the mankind. It pollutes Google searches, it distills knowledge even further, it is written by either robots or underpaid freelancers, and it drowns out the work written by professionals in the area.
luckylion 4y ago
Or rather, the end of the easy mode search engine. Google has been losing the fight against SEO for the past years. I'm not sure if they don't care (because ads bring in the money, not SERPs) or if they can't. Relying on PageRank / links (like they currently do as the super-dominating factor) doesn't work if larger sites will employ AI (like BuzzFeed). Relying on their ability to tell apart AI and human generated texts? I'm not sure. I'm not an expert, but I fed in text from a German public broadcaster into one of the "identify ChatGPT" things and it said it looked like ChatGPT. I doubt these technologically conservative editors are using ChatGPT to write official reports. Instead, they'd need to understand the topic at hand to judge whether a page is useful in answering the user's question. And at that point, they have an answering machine and no longer need to show search results.

version_five 4y ago

This has shades of the "long island blockchain" thing. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/21/long-island-iced-tea-micro-cap-adds-blockchain-to-name-and-stock-soars.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/21/long-island-iced-tea-micro-c...

__derek__ 4y ago
That's exactly what came to my mind, too.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

rrishi 4y ago

In the long run, this may backfire

dd36 4y ago
Doubt they have a choice.
granshaw 4y ago
In the long run, we’re all dead

Frummy 4y ago

It’s officially a bubble

rationalist 4y ago
The question is, where are we on this bubble curve? If I had to guess: at the very beginning. I think there's a long way to go.

Radim 4y ago

> “To be clear, we see the breakthroughs in AI opening up a new era of creativity that will allow humans to harness creativity in new ways with endless opportunities and applications for good,” Peretti said. [0] Depends how the AI part is presented. Explicit or obscured? Upfront or shady? For some people, that makes all the difference. I told my (non-technical) wife about ChatGPT when it came out, and she was revulsed. Not by the technology itself (which she couldn't care less about) but by its "feel". When I prodded deeper, her revulsion came down to "I'd feel cheated if I realized I've been interacting with a machine masquerading as a human". Not the machine itself, but the successful masquerading. I suspect she's not alone, and "being cheated" will be a visceral issue to a lot more people than the early money-grabbers and AI enthusiasts give credit for. > Another correction suggests the AI tool plagiarized. “We’ve replaced phrases that were not entirely original,” according to the correction added to an article on how to close a bank account. Yeah, right. [0] from the linked CNET piece https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/25/tech/cnet-ai-tool-news-stories/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/25/tech/cnet-ai-tool-news-st...

ajsnigrutin 4y ago

At the end of the day... who needs humans? On one side, you have AI creating content, on the other, you have various bots scraping ("reading") that content... what do humans do now? And what is the added value of buzzfeed compared to just conversing with chatGPT?

Dalewyn 4y ago
Congratulations, we have reinvented stock trading.
ClikeX 4y ago
It makes me think of the Google phone bot talking to other automated phone systems.
taylorius 4y ago
"what do humans do now?" Block the whole consarned shit-circus, and go and do something worthwhile instead?
- throwayyy479087 4y ago
  A lot of Zoomers are REALLY into the outdoors now. It's awesome. "What do humans do now?" "Go outside." is a great answer. I'm going to try fly fishing this year. Might buy a canoe. "What do humans do now?" "Be free of the grips of dopamine scrolling, finally."
dazc 4y ago
Don't hang up your gloves just yet, we need bots that can buy stuff (with their own money) first.
- ajsnigrutin 4y ago
  chatgpt can easily find one of many that scalpers use and modify it, then use the ad money from ai-generated articles to buy stuff online :)
ptx 4y ago

a13o 4y ago

This is such a self-own to admit your content is so formulaic, a bot can automate writing it. That investors responded positively goes to show you where generative AI is on the hype curve. The trough of disillusionment comes after we accept that if a bot can write it, it's commodity content.

drdunce 4y ago

Did a quick test - yep, it's ready alright: > write a buzzfeed style headline "7 Mind-Blowing Reasons Why You Should Start Wearing Your Socks Inside Out"

petepete 4y ago
But what are the reasons?! I feel like I need to know.
- rationalist 4y ago
  > What are seven mind-blowing reasons to wear socks inside-out? I don't have an account because they require a phone number to create an account, but if I had an account, I would be most curious to see its response to this prompt. (OpenAI ignores your emails if you ask about creating an account without a phone number. I wonder why they really want those phone numbers…)
  - Veen 4y ago
    Is the phone number requirement a US-specific thing? I created my account without giving up my phone number. I'm in the UK.
    - rationalist 4y ago
      I set my VPN to the UK, and was asked for a phone number. Maybe it's a VPN thing? Has anyone else not needed a phone number?
- drdunce 4y ago
  It says: Improved circulation: Wearing your socks inside out can help improve circulation in your feet and lower legs, which can help prevent varicose veins and other circulation issues. Better hygiene: The inside of your socks is typically cleaner than the outside, so by wearing them inside out, you can keep your feet cleaner and reduce your risk of foot odor and other hygiene issues. Increased durability: The inside of your socks is typically more durable than the outside, so by wearing them inside out, you can help prolong the life of your socks and save money in the long run. Better grip: The inside of your socks is typically more textured than the outside, which can provide better grip and traction when you're walking or running. Fashion statement: Wearing your socks inside out can be a unique and eye-catching fashion statement that sets you apart from the crowd. Personalized look: You can also customize your socks by cutting and sewing them to create a personalized look. Easy to remember: If you're someone who often struggles to match your socks, by wearing them inside out it will be easy to remember which one is which!

ClikeX 4y ago

In BuzzFeeds case this might actually improve the quality.

jtode 4y ago

Buzzfeed: "were gonna cut more jobs!" Wall Street: (sound of stampeding powerties)

FlyingSnake 4y ago

This is giving me “Long Island Blockchain Tea” vibes. It’ll be sad to see latest advances made in AI are used to sell more snake oil.

eriktrautman 4y ago

RIP content writers scratching out a living on a beach in Bali

consumer451 4y ago

Labeled as "Potentially Misleading or Incorrect" on r/investing. Argument being that this could be related more to the fact Facebook will pay BuzzFeed for content. https://old.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/10m0731/buzzfeed_stock_rises_over_150_as_of_this_writing/ https://old.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/10m0731/buzzfeed...

swader999 4y ago

Why is this the end of content? Can't content be good or better in its own right? Maybe AI will do a better job of researching, investigating, creating and writing.

spaceman_2020 4y ago

You Won't BELIEVE What New Technology Buzzfeed is Using to Create Digital Trash!

SentientAtom 4y ago

Lot of fear mongering here, MSN did this years ago and their content is absolutely soulless.

Ekaros 4y ago

Maybe it is possible that AI is used to generate the churn content. And this allows writers to spend time on some actual journalism... Hah, who am I kidding. Probably will get rid of that if AI content generates the money.

criddell 4y ago
Buzzfeed did win a Pulitzer for their series exposing the detention of Muslims in China. The potential is there, they just need to let their people do the work they are capable of.

nemo44x 4y ago

This is very interesting in that many journals/blogs/news sites have made strong pushes to unionize in recent years. Technology is now giving them another shot with new AI tech. How will these powerful unions respond?

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

fnordpiglet 4y ago

Sadly it’ll probably become more accurate and less biased.

julesqsjulesqs 4y ago

didn't we already have an era of content farms mass producing SEO content like ten years ago? this doesn't seem any different, their just paying to use AI instead of cheap contractors

giarc 4y ago

Remember during the crypto boom and companies stock would pop on PR that they were accepting crypto payments. There were even companies that were wrongly attributed to having moved into the crypto space and still got the pop. I wonder if ChatGPT or AI is next.

catchnear4321 4y ago

Once the damage is done, BuzzFeed will die. As will many other “content mills.” Good. At least something positive will come of this.

rdxm 4y ago

[dead]

effnorwood 4y ago

[dead]

danjoredd 4y ago

And right when I was thinking on shorting their stock...Thought about doing it 7 months ago, but backed out.

ravenstine 4y ago

Add this to the reasons for why I struggle to take the stock market seriously. Can you make money off trading stocks? Absolutely. Can you successfully use the stock market as part of your retirement plan? Probably. However, I don't "believe" in it. In no way is it operating on any intuitive sense of what would make a stock worth more than another. Today it seems entirely driven by keywords, inverted logic, and the intent to short. I don't see how artificially pumping up the market with institutionalized retirement plans helps either, besides to keep money out of the hands of the middle class and in those who can manipulate it. What's worse is stocks are becoming one of the few ways that said middle class can even get ahead; bonds have a very low yield and could even implode if the US dollar declines, inflation eats at savings, and wages struggle to keep up with said inflation. Articles like this one are going to appear in (the equivalent of) textbooks in the future and people will look at it and wonder how we could not see what's coming for us. On the bright side, I hope this is the beginning of the end for the flurry of bullshit on the internet. Not that there won't be plenty of bullshit to go around, as was the case pre-internet, but the combination of SEO and AI may turn into an ouroboros that consumes itself. Though I think the ouroboros is supposed to represent the cycle of life, so maybe an "ant mill" is more analogous.

hfdkdfheh 4y ago
What exactly is the grievance here? Retirement plans aren't obligated to but any particular stock or index fund. You're lumping the entire market into one entity when in reality there are plenty of underperforming stocks that are very purposefully overlooked.

stuntkite 4y ago

The news part for me is that they actually had humans producing all those lists. You don't even need AI to make those things. It seems like the appropriate thing for them to do.