James Raptis, a lawyer at Australian Community Media (ACM), has resigned following a report allegedly linking him to an AI content farm rewriting articles from other websites.
Raptis reportedly had links to a network of websites – F1 Initiative, League Initiative, Surf Initiative, AliaVera – publishing reworked articles from Australian and international news sites.
Some stories on the sites carried the byline James Raptis. When the ABC asked if he was behind the sites, all four sites were all taken down within hours.
AI-generated news websites, now attracting advertising, are being created daily. Newsguard has so far identified 811 AI-generated news and information sites operating with little to no human oversight.
Newsguard calls the sites UAINS (Unreliable AI-Generated News and information websites).
Raptis told the ABC he had hosted and set up the sites, but claimed to have no role in writing and publishing the articles. His social media accounts have been shut down or switched to private.
Raptis admitted to hosting the websites but told the ABC he had "never written any content for them".
An ACM spokesperson confirmed to AdNews James Raptis resigned from his position as senior legal counsel at ACM and has left the company.
"ACM has thanked James for his contribution and wishes him well in his future endeavours," the spokesperson said.
"ACM does not discuss staff matters and will be making no further comment."
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