Australian science magazine Cosmos slammed over AI-generated articles
Sydney: One of Australia's leading science magazines, Cosmos, sparked controversy after publishing articles generated by artificial intelligence (AI) that were criticized for being incorrect or oversimplified. The magazine, backed by Australia's national science agency, utilized Open AI's GPT-4 to create six articles in the previous month.
The Science Journalists Association of Australia expressed serious concerns over the use of AI-generated content in Cosmos. Association president Jackson Ryan stated that the AI-written article titled 'What happens to our bodies after death?' contained inaccuracies and oversimplifications in its explanations of scientific processes. For instance, the AI text incorrectly claimed that rigor mortis sets in 3 to 4 hours after death, a timing that contradicts scientific research.
Concerns Raised by Experts
Another issue highlighted by Ryan was the AI's description of autolysis as "self-breaking," a term that he deemed misleading. He emphasized that such inaccuracies could erode the trust and credibility of the publication among readers.
A spokesperson for the national science agency defended the AI-generated content, stating that it had undergone fact-checking by a trained science communicator and editing by the Cosmos publishing team. The spokesperson assured that the use of AI would be continuously evaluated during the experimental phase.
Criticism Over Journalism Grant Usage
Aside from the quality of the AI-generated content, Cosmos faced backlash for allocating a journalism grant towards enhancing its artificial intelligence capabilities, potentially at the expense of human journalists. Former editor Gail MacCallum expressed her support for exploring AI but admitted discomfort with AI creating articles. Similarly, former editor Ian Connellan revealed that he was unaware of the AI project and would have advised against it.
The controversy surrounding the use of AI extends beyond Cosmos, with prominent organizations like The New York Times filing lawsuits against AI developers for allegedly using copyrighted material to train their models without authorization. This legal action reflects the challenges and ethical dilemmas posed by the increasing reliance on AI in content creation.
As the debate around AI in journalism continues to evolve, the repercussions of leveraging AI technologies for content production remain a contentious issue for publishers and media organizations.
