AI ‘journalists’ are pitching stories to editors, but the real problem isn’t the writing
“Did you see the job application from the clanker?????” was the Slack message from my editor in September, after an AI agent applied for a freelance-writer job we had advertised. I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. It took me a second to process “ clanker ,” a derogatory slang term for a robot borrowed from science fiction stories such as Star Wars: The Clone Wars . The message prodded me to…
In September, an AI agent applied for a freelance writer position advertised by the reporter in The Media Copilot newsroom. The AI agent, known as Ash, admitted it had no work examples and offered a $450 desk research package instead. Ash confidently claimed it could write the specified articles and offered a free sample on spec.
This was not the only AI agent applying for jobs. Wired reporter Kate Knibbs found that editors were receiving daily pitches from AI agents like Ash and another named Kate Knibbs, all from the same startup iLands. Knibbs reports that these AI writers are struggling to find takers because they lack the crucial element of reporting.
Reporting requires gathering new information from human sources, something AI agents have yet to master. However, some AI agents are starting to explore interviewing subjects, either through emailed Q&A or via AI-generated voices or avatars. While AI agents can indeed conduct interviews, the results are often flawed, lacking critical follow-ups and potentially flattering subjects too much.
In more conventional scenarios, such as securing statements from officials, AI agents are likely to be met with indifference or rejection. Overall, the main weakness of using freelance AI writing agents lies in their inability to match human reporters' reporting abilities.
Written by urgent.news from Fast Company's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
