Gannett Accused of Using AI and Fake Authors for Content on Reviewed Site

Union allegations suggest bot-written articles mark Gannett's attempt to undermine workforce; Gannett maintains content came from third-party freelancers, not AI.

Articles with questionable quality and bylines from potentially non-existent authors were published on Gannett’s product reviews site, Reviewed, prompting suspicions of the use of AI tools for content generation.
Gannett, facing Union allegations of attempting to undermine its workforce, insists the questionable content was created by third-party freelancers hired by a marketing agency partner, not AI.
The company previously faced controversy for a botched attempt to use AI to generate sports articles that resulted in quality issues. The recent allegations imply a similar scenariocould be playing out on the Reviewed site.
The marketing agency partner addressed, AdVon Commerce (also known as ASR Group), claimed on its LinkedIn page to specialize in AI solutions for E Commerce, raising more doubts about Gannett’s claim of no AI involvement.
The issue emerges amidst a recent strike by Reviewed's unionized staff demanding better bargaining conditions and negotiation for a new contract, with some employees believing that this is a retaliatory measure from Gannett.