From BuzzFeed to Buzzkill: A.I. Is Already Stealing Our Writing Jobs
Humans out. Robots in.
When ChatGPT reared its artificial head and took the world (read: Twitter threads) by storm, the cynics among us — myself included — feared it would soon steal our writing jobs. When I asked it that very question, its response was less doom-mongering than I expected:
“While it is unlikely to completely replace human writers, it could put an end to the careers of many writers and change the way written content is produced.” It acknowledged the importance of humans, adding that “ultimately, the role of human writers will still be important in producing unique and original content.”
It seemed an uneasy truce had been formed; our A.I. overlords were happy to co-exist with us.
Less than 2 months later, that truce is on very thin ice.
BuzzFeed — the company best known for its viral quizzes and clickbait — has endured a rough few years. Since it went public via a SPAC in December 2021 (remember those?), its share price has tanked, employees have sued BuzzFeed, and BuzzFeed has countersued its employees. It’s been messy, and the company hasn’t recovered.
So it’s trying something new. On Jan 26, BuzzFeed chief executive Jonah Peretti announced that the company would use…
