The tech portal CNET laid off 10% of its staff weeks after it emerged that the site had been quietly using AI to write articles. The Verge.
The Red Ventures, which bought the publication in 2020, announced the layoffs by email. According to management, the cuts are tied to CNET’s focus on areas where the site can attract more traffic in Google search.
“We will need to focus on simplifying operations and the technology stack, as well as on how we invest time and energy,” wrote Carlos Angrisano, president of the Financial Services division and head of the CNET group at Red Ventures.
According to a staff member, roughly a dozen people or 10% of public-facing authors were affected. Ivy O’Neill, CNET’s senior communications manager, confirmed the layoffs.
Chief Editor Connie Guglielmo will move to the role of Senior Vice President of AI Content Strategy and Editor-in-Chief. Her replacement will be Adam Auriemma. He previously led the NextAdvisor editorial team, which also belongs to Red Ventures.
However, it appears the publication has closed. The NextAdvisor Twitter account has not been updated since January 2023, and the website redirects to CNET. It has also disappeared from Red Ventures’ brand list.
Former CNET staff said that the parent company prioritized “victory” in Google search by giving SEO priority. In high-traffic articles, the company places lucrative affiliate marketing advertisements.
Meanwhile, staff said working conditions worsened after the acquisition. They said management sometimes demanded editors alter the coverage of companies that advertised with Red Ventures.
Journalists called this a flagrant breach of ethics that threatened CNET’s editorial independence.
In January 2023, it emerged, that the publication had used AI almost 75 times over a three-month period to write a series of financial articles. CNET had not publicly announced the use of generative algorithms.
Shortly after the AI articles were uncovered, readers detected a number of glaring errors. As a result, the outlet paused publication of materials.
Two weeks later, stated, that CNET would continue to use AI. According to her, the editorial team had audited the already published materials and corrected the discovered errors.
As reported in February, the Pentagon published a press release about drones, written by ChatGPT.
Earlier, Democratic U.S. Congressman Jake Auchincloss delivered a speech generated by a chatbot in the U.S. House of Representatives.