BuzzFeed said it will use ChatGPT to create content instead of writers

Company would remains focused on 'human-generated' journalism in its newsroom, spokeswoman said.

Digital publisher BuzzFeed Inc. has announced plans to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) in its editorial and business operations this year. In a memo to staff, CEO Jonah Peretti said the company would rely on OpenAI's ChatGPT technology to enhance its quizzes and personalize content for its audiences.

Peretti said that he expects AI to assist the creative process and enhance the company's content, while humans will play the role of providing ideas, "cultural currency," and "inspired prompts." In 15 years, he wrote, he expects AI and data to help "create, personalize, and animate the content itself," rather than just curating existing content.

The move is part of BuzzFeed's plan to make its business profitable, which has already seen the company shrink its news division and double its creator network. The company is also getting paid millions of dollars by Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. to help generate creator content for Facebook and Instagram.

However, the announcement has raised concerns among some BuzzFeed employees, who have expressed worries about the implications of the move on the company's workforce and around fact-checking AI-generated content. Peretti has reassured staff that the company's approach will not be to rely solely on AI to save costs and produce low-quality content, but to find more creative ways to use the technology.

After the announcement BuzzFeed stocks were nearly doubled for the first time since october 2022. BuzzFeed's move to embrace AI comes as ChatGPT technology from OpenAI is generating buzz among consumers and businesses alike. Other publishers are also starting to discuss or experiment with using AI technology, with some experiencing mixed results.

Digital technology publisher CNET recently ran a test using internally designed AI technology to help editors create explainers around financial-services topics. However, the publisher paused the test after finding a number of factual errors.