Are AI bots running these Philadelphia and New Jersey news sites? – Billy Penn at WHYY

Are AI bots running these Philadelphia and New Jersey news sites?  Billy Penn at WHYY

A group of websites once connected to local papers have seemingly gone rogue. But, how would Philadelphians be able to tell the difference? Steven Bassin used to work as a sports reporter for centraljersey.com, but he has not been with the company in almost four years. So why are his bylines popping up as recently as this week? “I haven’t worked there, like I said, for three years,” Bassin said. “It’s going to be four years this January. I now see a story done (recently) on Lionel Messi with my name on it, and clear as day, I don’t work there anymore. I, clear as day, didn’t write this story, so I don’t know why I’m being used there.” And Bassin noticed another interesting thing – he and his former coworker, Mark Rosman, had photos listed on their profiles that weren’t them.

“It’s kind of ridiculous that they have Mark and me as totally different people and that we’re still on their page as well,” Bassin said. For months, Billy Penn has been keeping tabs on several local news websites – including Northeast Times, Lower Bucks Times, the South Philly Review and centraljersey.com. What we found led us down a local news rabbit hole that had us questioning reality. At least three journalists on the centraljersey.com site had stories under