It’s no secret that media companies are heavily relying on AI to write their copies, but every once in a while, these efforts can backfire — with some hilarious results.
Pakistan’s newspaper Dawn, which is one of the most prominent English dailies in the country, has published what seems to be AI-written text on its front page. In a news item titled “Auto sales rev up in October”, Dawn published the following as the final paragraph:
“If you want, I can also create an even snappier ‘front-page style’ version with snappier one-line stats and a bold, infographic-ready layout — perfect for maximum reader impact. Do you want me to do that next?”
This looked like output from ChatGPT, which often asks users follow up questions like these. It appeared that the Dawn journalist had asked ChatGPT to create a “front-page style version” for its copy, and ChatGPT was enquiring if they wanted any edits. However the journalist didn’t bother to read the complete output, and put it in the article, leading to it being published in one of the largest newspapers in the country which was founded by their first Prime Minister.
It’s incredible how text like this can pass through journalists, editors, and end up on the front page, but Dawn owned up to its gaffe in its online version. “This newspaper report was originally edited using AI, which is in violation of Dawn’s current AI policy…the report also carried some junk, which has now been edited out. That matter is being investigated. The violation of AI policy is regretted,” it said at the bottom of the article on its website.
And while the error has left a prominent newspaper red-faced, it could also serve as a product suggestion for the good people at ChatGPT — they might want to visually separate follow up questions from the original answer, lest more people end up in situations like these.