The rise of AI has led to bot sites, which had already been quite prevalent, reaching a whole new level of productivity with all things having been considered and taken into account. These sites are now utilizing generative AI because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing them to more easily circumvent plagiarism checks and the like, and in an ironic twist, Google is actually giving importance to these sites in the search results.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Google News features several articles that have been blatantly plagiarized. In spite of the fact that this is the case, these sites are continuing to get away with what they are doing, which just goes to show that even Google is not immune to getting tricked by AI.
One thing that bears mentioning is that AI has made it a great deal easier to avoid being detected as plagiarism than might have been the case otherwise. However, Google is also notorious for not acting quickly enough when plagiarized content is reported to them. Publishing partners that Google has established relationships with often complain about their content getting stolen, but the offending sites still manage to stay up for weeks after the report has been made, and sometimes they stay up for good.
Many are criticizing Google for letting its News product fall by the wayside just so that it can earn easy money through advertising. Not only do plagiarizing sites get promoted by Google, but they are often prioritized over sites that worked hard to actually create the content to begin with, which just goes to show that there is a serious crisis of confidence that Google will soon need to figure out how to deal with.
What makes this all the more concerning is how obvious the plagiarism is. The content might read like it was written by a human on the surface, albeit with some glaringly obvious cues that make it clear that it was AI, but on top of that it frequently featured AI generated images. Google will need to handle this problem sooner rather than later, otherwise it will rapidly lose its status as a place for people to get news. Publishers will be hesitant to work with Google if its complicit in their content getting stolen.
Read next: Apple Announces Its List Of Finalists For Top Performance In This Year’s App Store Awards
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Google News features several articles that have been blatantly plagiarized. In spite of the fact that this is the case, these sites are continuing to get away with what they are doing, which just goes to show that even Google is not immune to getting tricked by AI.
One thing that bears mentioning is that AI has made it a great deal easier to avoid being detected as plagiarism than might have been the case otherwise. However, Google is also notorious for not acting quickly enough when plagiarized content is reported to them. Publishing partners that Google has established relationships with often complain about their content getting stolen, but the offending sites still manage to stay up for weeks after the report has been made, and sometimes they stay up for good.
Many are criticizing Google for letting its News product fall by the wayside just so that it can earn easy money through advertising. Not only do plagiarizing sites get promoted by Google, but they are often prioritized over sites that worked hard to actually create the content to begin with, which just goes to show that there is a serious crisis of confidence that Google will soon need to figure out how to deal with.
What makes this all the more concerning is how obvious the plagiarism is. The content might read like it was written by a human on the surface, albeit with some glaringly obvious cues that make it clear that it was AI, but on top of that it frequently featured AI generated images. Google will need to handle this problem sooner rather than later, otherwise it will rapidly lose its status as a place for people to get news. Publishers will be hesitant to work with Google if its complicit in their content getting stolen.
Read next: Apple Announces Its List Of Finalists For Top Performance In This Year’s App Store Awards
