The death of the human web? Report finds over a third of web pages pushed live since the launch of ChatGPT show evidence of being written by AI

A new Pew Research Center study reveals that over a third of web pages published since the launch of ChatGPT show evidence of being written by AI. The center's researchers analyzed a sample of 10,000 pages and found that 10% had AI authorship fingerprints. Within this sample, 35% of web pages published since ChatGPT's launch indicated AI generation.

Certain types of websites are more likely to feature AI-generated content, with .com domains being the most common at 60% of the suspected AI-written pages. Educational and government sites have a much lower likelihood of being AI-generated, with only 1% and 0.8% respectively. The study identified specific writing patterns associated with AI, such as increased use of the em dash and Oxford comma, as well as the more frequent use of words like "delve," "interplay," and "testament."

These indicators, while not definitive, provide a more reliable way to identify AI-generated content. However, the authors caution that it may become increasingly difficult to distinguish AI-generated web pages, especially those from .edu or .gov domains.