Australian broadcaster the ABC discovered a “parasitic” content farm that’s churning out poorly plagiarized news stories through a number of publications being run by a company called Initiative Media. In its investigation, the ABC came across an article about a local rugby player with a headline that was eerily similar to a real piece that was published by sports journalist Patrick Woods at the Townsville Bulletin. “Not only [do they] hurt my ability to report on the [National Rugby League], but also damage the integrity of sports journalism,” Woods told the broadcaster, calling out the operation as a new breed of “parasitic plagiarism merchants that are becoming all too common.” Just hours after the ABC reached out to a lawyer called James Raptis, whose byline was previously listed on one of the sites, the entire operation was shut down. Raptis, who works for a large media company called Australian Community Media, issued a puzzling statement in which he admitted to hosting the websites but said he had “never written any content for them.” “After becoming aware of the specific nature of the sites, I advised the operator that the server would no longer host the sites and they were taken down,” he wrote. “The content of these websites was unacceptable and I do not endorse the use of AI in this way.” The story is indicative of a much broader trend. The internet is facing a tidal wave of AI-generated garbage that’s actively drowning out real journalism by real human beings…Sites Busted Running AI Content Farm That Rips Off Real Journalists' Work When They Accidentally Left Prompt in Published Article