Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty
Despite G/O Media’s full-throttle approach to generative artificial intelligence, one that’s been laden with errors and sparse on words, has partially pushed multiple editors to leave various G/O-owned properties, CEO Jim Spanfeller committed to not allowing the efforts to interfere with the company’s roster of journalists.
“Our goal is to hire more journalists,” he told Vox in July, saying the technology wouldn’t replace humans.
That pledge apparently does not extend to full-on automation, which resulted in Gizmodo en Español’s four full-time staffers’ firing late last month as the company switched to an automated translation service. In a previously unreported memo sent by Editorial Director Merrill Brown announcing the tool, there was no mention of the Spanish site’s staffers—or their eventual fates.