Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Rise (And Fall) Of The Machines
CNET made waves in January when it started publishing articles that were completely generated by AI.
But the publisher is already rethinking how it’s using AI to write content after some early missteps, The Verge reports. Half of the 70 AI-generated articles it published this year needed to be corrected by human editors because of factual errors or potential plagiarism.
In a memo shared with employees on Tuesday, CNET promises to no longer publish stories written solely by AI. It also says it will not publish AI-generated images and videos “as of now.” But it will continue to use AI to analyze data and existing text, create outlines for story ideas and generate “explanatory content.”
CNET’s decision comes weeks after 100 of its employees formed a union through the Writers Guild of America, East. The fledgling union cited the company’s push for AI-generated content and a lack of editorial independence as chief concerns.
Child’s Play
The FTC hit Microsoft with a $20 million fine on Monday for illegally collecting children’s personal information via Xbox consoles.
When creating an Xbox user account, which is required to play games, users must provide personal information, including their name, date of birth and email. If users indicate they’re under 13 years old, parental consent is required to complete the process.
The FTC says Microsoft violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting names and contact info before confirming the user’s age. From 2015 to 2020, Microsoft retained that personal information even if a parent never completed the registration process. Microsoft claims a technical glitch prevented the user data from being deleted and that its engineering team “took immediate action” to fix the glitch. It also said the data was never monetized or used during that time.
Microsoft is overhauling its registration process to be COPPA-compliant. Now, users must provide their date of birth before any other personal information. The company has promised to retroactively obtain parental consent for all child accounts created prior to May 2021 if the user is still under 13.
Microsoft says it’s also creating a new age verification system, with testing planned for coming months.
Can’t Buy Me Love
Consumers weary of influencer marketing are jumping ship for user-generated content, The Drum reports, according to a survey of 1,000-plus US consumers released today.
Take the findings with a grain of salt, though: UGC content agency EnTribe conducted the survey.
Why the ascent of UGC? People, particularly Gen Z users, trust their fellow consumers – especially when they enthusiastically champion a given product or brand because they truly love it – more than paid influencers.
Only 12% of consumers said they were willing to buy an influencer-promoted product. And 81% said brand influencers either had a neutral or negative effect on their perception of brands. So-called influencer fatigue led 51% of those surveyed to scroll past influencer content without engaging. A whopping 62% of participants claimed they never bought a product hawked by an influencer, and 42% who did make a purchase regretted it later.
In contrast, 86% of respondents said they were of a mind to trust a brand that publishes UGC (sans sponsorships).
But Wait, There’s More!
How Google’s top lawyer is preparing to fight legislation on AI and tech censorship. [Bloomberg]
Hundreds of Gannett journalists representing two dozen local US newspapers strike to demand leadership change. [AP]
Meta introduces Performance 5: The five best practices that increase campaign performance when using its ad platform. [release]
IAB Tech Lab launches Advanced TV Commit Group to promote interoperability and standardization across the TV ecosystem. [release]
Generative AI startup Jasper rolls out Campaigns, its enterprise marketing campaign platform. [release]
Apple’s on the “don’t say AI” train. Machine learning’s up for grabs, though. [The Verge]
