CANADALAND How to Break Into Journalism: an AI Scam Story
7 snips
Dec 5, 2025 Jay Caspian Kang, a talented staff writer and columnist for The New Yorker, delves into the encroaching world of AI in journalism. He discusses alarming trends where AI-generated content is infiltrating newsrooms and raising questions about authenticity and accountability. Jay shares insights from his experiments with language models, debates the implications of using AI as a reporting assistant, and warns about the risks of economic incentives leading to fraudulent practices. Their conversation challenges listeners to consider the future of human writers in a tech-driven landscape.
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Writing As Pattern Recombination
- Jay Caspian Kang argues humans learn to write like large language models by absorbing and rearranging past texts into a personal voice.
- This frames writing as pattern recombination rather than a solely mystical, original act.
The Local's AI Freelancer Investigation
- The Local uncovered a prolific freelance profile, Victoria Goldie, whose articles showed AI-like invented details and fake sources.
- She hung up when confronted, prompting multiple outlets to retract suspicious pieces.
Economics Shape AI Fraud Risk
- Economic incentives limit large-scale AI freelancing because pay rates are low and fraud requires work to sustain.
- More plausible risk is journalists using AI as a shortcut for reporting or drafting.
