AI took my job: writer reveals he was fired after media company started using AI tool to translate articles
AI displaces jobs at Gizmodo as the media company turns to machine translation for its Spanish-language site.
In Short
- Gizmodo, a tech blog, recently replaced some of its staff at its Spanish-language site with artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
- Gizmodo management explained they began using an advanced AI translation service to convert English articles into Spanish.
- The report highlights the need to find a balance between leveraging the benefits of AI and ensuring job security.
Imagine losing your job to a machine. That's what happened to a writer and editor at Gizmodo, a tech blog that's been around since 2002. As per The Verge, Gizmodo recently let go of some of its staff who worked on its Spanish-language site, Gizmodo en Español, and replaced them with artificial intelligence (AI) to do translation work.
Now, if you visit the Spanish site, you'll notice a message on articles. It says, "This content has been automatically translated from the original material. Due to the nuances of machine translation, there may be slight differences. For the original version, click here."
One of the employees affected, Matas S. Zavia, took to Twitter to talk about it. He shared his frustration and said that Gizmodo turned the Spanish site into a "translation self-publisher," meaning that AI replaced his job.
Gizmodo's move became news, and people started discussing the impact of AI on jobs. Zavia, however, hasn't responded to requests for comment.
Behind the scenes, Gizmodo's boss explained that they started using an advanced translation service run by AI to turn English articles into Spanish. They think this is the first step in making versions of their articles in different languages. They believe this will bring in new readers, but they've made a change – they no longer put the names of human writers on the translated articles.
A group called the GMG Union, which represents the Gizmodo workers, shared their thoughts too. They criticized Gizmodo for replacing their skilled journalists with AI, saying that the translated articles are often not very good because there's no human editing.
This isn't the first time workers have complained about losing their jobs to AI. Many companies have been using AI to save money and work faster. Some company leaders even talk about replacing workers with machines.
But AI isn't perfect. Some companies have faced problems because they rushed into using AI without enough human oversight. The big challenge is finding a balance between using AI for its benefits and making sure people don't lose their jobs because of it.