These 44 hilariously terrible BuzzFeed travel articles were AI-assisted

I know what you’re thinking. “I’m going on a trip to Cape May, NJ and need a true ‘hidden gem’ of a travel guide.” Well, if by some extreme fluke, you see one of BuzzFeed’s AI-assisted content in your search results, here’s my recommendation: avoid it.

That’s because BuzzFeed has published 20 low-quality travel articles under the byline “As Told to Buzzy.” They’re all super formulaic and written in the first-person point of view. Or, do we now have to call it the “first-AI point of view”? (Does AI even have a view?)

Why we care. Multiple articles are calling these “SEO-driven” travel guides. Let’s stop that now. If these pages rank for any competitive terms, Google has failed as a search engine.

No, what BuzzFeed has done here is not “SEO”. BuzzFeed has simply published super low-quality, shallow, AI-generated articles written as a first-person narrative by the AI, about locations that exist in the world. Nothing more, nothing less. If these pages rank, it will be because it lives on an authoritative site, not because it’s any good.

As Told to Buzzy. That is the profile name under which the 44 articles live. The biography of this AI writer: “Articles written with the help of Buzzy the Robot (aka our Creative AI Assistant) but powered by human ideas.” But this is BuzzFeed, so E-E-A-T doesn’t matter, right?

All of Buzzy’s articles I looked at had a note at the top saying a version of “This article was collaboratively written by [insert name here] + Buzzy, our creative AI assistant.” Those collaborators seemed to all be non-editorial staff (from the business and sales side of the company), the Verge reported.

• Fun fact: BuzzFeed has a separate AI quiz writer byline for Buzzy the Robot, author of 26 quizzes.

Hilariously terrible. Some of the lowlights, via Futurism:

• “Now I know what you’re thinking…”