AI-generated stories not acceptable

by Megan Barton, publisher, Cody Enterprise

Everywhere we look it seems we’re at the mercy of AI. It is present in everyday life, and some might argue that it’s changed our daily routines for the better.

Sure, there are certain circumstances in which AI can benefit you. It can create a new company logo or advertisements, we could dive into the robotics that help individuals regain mobility and gain newfound independence (we won’t), but there seems to be this ever hovering “cloud of doom” when discussing AI.

Recently, the Cody Enterprise has had our fair share of the “doom.” AI isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, especially in our line of work.

We take extreme pride in the content that we put out to our community, and we trust that the individuals hired to accurately write these stories are honest in gathering their information. So, you can imagine our surprise when we learned otherwise.

This is a learning curve for all of us. We have to understand that AI is the new, advanced form of plagiarism, and in the field of media and writing, plagiarism is something every media outlet has had to correct at some point or another. It’s the ugly part of the job. But, a company willing to right (or quite literally write) those wrongs is a reputable one.

So, take this as our lesson learned at the Cody Enterprise. We now have a system set in place to catch AI-generated stories. We will have longer conversations about how AI-generated stories are not acceptable, we will hold our employees to a higher standard, and we stand by that. The community deserves the best, most authentic form of reporting, and that is what we strive to produce.