United StatesMedia and entertainment2022–2023CNET
AI-written finance explainers
CNET quietly published 77 AI-written explainers, corrected more than half and paused the tool
Problem
Personal finance explainers on topics such as interest rates and savings accounts bring search traffic to publishers, but each one takes staff time to write. CNET's money section wanted to produce more of them.
Approach
Over several months before January 2023, CNET Money used an internally designed AI engine to draft 77 short explainers, about 1% of its content, each reviewed by a human editor and published under a generic byline with a small disclosure. In January 2023 outside reports drew attention to the practice and to factual errors. An internal audit led to corrections on 41 of the 77 articles, some substantial, and the editor-in-chief acknowledged that a plagiarism check had failed in some cases. CNET paused the AI stories, along with its sister sites Bankrate and CreditCards.com, and said it would resume only when its processes could prevent such errors.
Results
Takeaway
Every article had passed a human editor, yet more than half needed correction, so the review step did not catch what the model got wrong. The low-key disclosure turned a quality problem into a trust problem once outsiders noticed it.
Categories
- Industry
- Media and entertainment
- Business function
- Production and qualityMarketing and sales
- Innovation type
- Process innovation
- AI technology
- Generative AI
- Adoption
- Built in-house
- Evidence
- Press reporting
Sources
Source summaries
Editor-in-chief Connie Guglielmo said CNET Money used an internally designed AI engine for 77 short explainers, about 1% of its content. She said a full audit after a reader flagged an error found some stories needed substantial correction, and acknowledged that the plagiarism checker was misused or missed close matches. Planned fixes included clearer disclosure and editor co-bylines.
Talking Biz News relayed The Verge's count that CNET issued corrections on 41 of the 77 stories written with its AI tool. Some corrections replaced phrases described as "not entirely original", raising concerns about plagiarism. Futurism first reported that CNET had been publishing AI-written articles for months with little notice.
Engadget, citing The Verge, reported that CNET leadership told staff it was pausing AI-written articles "for now", including at Bankrate and CreditCards.com. Futurism had spotted dozens of automated finance explainers whose disclosure appeared only when readers clicked the byline. Engadget questioned CNET's earlier statement that the pieces had been thoroughly edited by people.
Full details are in the original sources.