Thursday 9th May: AI-powered monsters are already eating the internet

Good morning! Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Chris.

Are you a publisher with newsletters or podcasts? Then you absolutely must have Wednesday June 12th in your diary. It’s going to be big! You can check the just-revealed early agenda here.

Now that is a headline. Remember a few months back, when it was discovered by some diligent journalists that Sports Illustrated was running product reviews under fake bylines, using GenAI profile pictures? Well, just as we suggested at the time, Sports Illustrated has turned out to be far from the only title that has been embroiled in the practice, the development of which has been led by a company called AdVon Commerce. Frankly that name alone smacks of ‘evil sci-sci corporation’, but Futurism has done further digging:

“Basically, AdVon engages in what Google calls ‘site reputation abuse’: it strikes deals with publishers in which it provides huge numbers of extremely low-quality product reviews — often for surprisingly prominent publications — intended to pull in traffic from people Googling things like ‘best ab roller.’”

Futurism says that Dotdash Meredith, Hearst, and Ziff Davis are among the media companies implicated in the use of AdVon’s scheme. That — if true — would make them guilty of hypocrisy when they purport to be ‘quality’ publishers. What could be lower quality than articles created using GenAI, without disclosure, in order to effectively game the search ecosystem at the expense of audiences? Answers on a postcard please.

Maybe it’s because I used to report on Refinery29’s content marketing model fairly regularly, but my ears always prick up when I hear about how the beauty-focused publisher is adapting to new circumstances. Following its sale from Vice last month, the brand is now taking over the largest beauty trade show in the US. It’s a fascinating move from a brand that has, in a relatively short span of time, adhered to a variety of different business models — and a great example of diversification as well.

In this slot in yesterday’s newsletter, Peter linked to a piece by Jacob Donnelly in which he argued that publishers should license their content to AI companies rather than sue them for unauthorised use of it. His reasoning that one is a source of repeat revenue rather than a one-off payment is very sound — and this Toolkits article demonstrates that at least Dotdash Meredith is taking it to heart.

Finally — the NYT isn’t your typical newspaper business, but you can use its subscriber growth figures as a sort of bellwether for how the US public is happy to pay for digital products. In its latest quarterly earnings report the paper advised it has added 210,000 digital subscribers last quarter — many of whom have signed up for its games and sports coverage through The Athletic, the company said on Wednesday. Peter won’t be pleased.

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