Buzzfeed Didn't Layoff the AI

My heart goes out to the great writers who just lost their jobs at Buzzfeed. The entire news room was shut down. The CRO Edgar Hernandez and COO Christian Baesler both fell on their swords and are also leaving.

The artificial intelligence Buzzfeed has already been using to generate quizzes wasn't affected by the layoffs. If anything, more of Buzzfeed is going to be AI powered pretty soon. According to the Daily Beast:

"Furthermore, Peretti told the remaining staff that he would be focusing more of the company’s energy going forward on AI. “We will empower our editorial teams at all of our brands to do the very best creative work and build an interface where that work can be repacked and brought to advertisers more effectively,” he said. “And we will bring more innovation to clients in the form of creators, AI, and cultural moments that can only happen across BuzzFeed, Complex, HuffPost, Tasty and First We Feast.”

This trend isn't just limited to Buzzfeed. Insider is also reducing human headcount and increasing AI usage to compensate:

"The news came on the same day that Insider, another digital media outlet that has been experimenting with AI, decided to slash 10 percent of its workforce."

Sadly, this trend is only going to accelerate. If you are a writer, absolutely start using AI to assist you. If you are a manager, now is the time to empower your team with AI, both to increase their productivity and to prepare them for the near future where they are either competing with or working with artifical intelligence.

#ai #future #buzzfeed #insider #aisymbiosis

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