Month: August 2024

Photo: Getty Images

Newspaper giant Gannett is shutting down Reviewed, its product reviews site, effective November 1st, according to sources familiar with the decision. The site offers recommendations for products ranging from shoes to home appliances and employs journalists to test and review items — but has also been at the center of questions around whether its work is actually produced by humans.
“After careful consideration and evaluation of our Reviewed business, we have decided to close the operation. We extend our sincere gratitude to our employees who have provided consumers with trusted product reviews,” Reviewed spokesperson Lark-Marie Antón told The Verge in an email.
But the site more recently has been the subject of scrutiny, at times by its own unionized employees. Last October, Reviewed staff publicly accused Gannett of publishing AI-generated product reviews on the site. The articles in question were written in a strange, stilted manner, and staff found that the authors the articles were attributed to didn’t seem to exist on LinkedIn and other platforms. Some questioned whether they were real at all. In response to questions, Gannett said the articles were produced by a third-party marketing company called AdVon Commerce and that the original reviews didn’t include proper disclosure. But Gannett denied that AI was involved.
As The Verge reported last fall, the marketing firm behind the Reviewed content is the same company that was responsible for a similar dust-up at Sports Illustrated, in which remarkably similar product reviews were published and attributed to freelancers. But in the case of Sports Illustrated, the evidence that AI was involved was obvious: authors’ headshots were for sale on AI image websites. Sports Illustrated maintained that though authors’ names were indeed not real, AdVon had assured the company that real humans wrote the content.
But an investigation by The Verge into AdVon showed that the company has spammed the web with marketing content, some of which former employees say was indeed AI-generated. Ben Faw, CEO and cofounder of AdVon, has for years used his connections in media to land contracts with news outlets, often setting up elaborate marketing schemes to enrich himself. AdVon’s marketing content appeared everywhere from small blogs to outlets like Us Weekly and the Los Angeles Times. In response to The Verge’s reporting, Faw said in an emailed statement that the company “generate[s] affiliate revenue which publishers use to fund newsroom operations and salaries.” He also said AdVon offers “human-only, AI-enhanced, and hybrid solutions” to customers hiring the firm.
Antón didn’t offer a reason for shutting down Reviewed. Product reviews are often seen as a lucrative venture for publishers, who can draw readers looking for purchasing advice on search engines and make money when readers buy items from the articles. In recent months, other news organizations, including The Associated Press, have announced similar ventures. But even content that has historically made news outlets money is vulnerable to changes in Google Search, where a bulk of traffic comes from. Some independent sites have said their search traffic has steadily evaporated, and Google’s pivot to AI search tools threatens to eat into revenue even further.
Unionized workers at Reviewed have gone on limited strikes multiple times after impasses with Gannett management. Most recently, in July, staffers staged a temporary work stoppage, saying they were expected to take on additional work without adjustments to compensation. Gannett didn’t comment on whether staff at Reviewed will be offered new roles at the company or whether they would be laid off.
Correction, August 26th: This story previously stated that Reviewed staff were given additional work with adjustments to pay. Their compensation was not adjusted.

Photo: Getty Images

Newspaper giant Gannett is shutting down Reviewed, its product reviews site, effective November 1st, according to sources familiar with the decision. The site offers recommendations for products ranging from shoes to home appliances and employs journalists to test and review items — but has also been at the center of questions around whether its work is actually produced by humans.

“After careful consideration and evaluation of our Reviewed business, we have decided to close the operation. We extend our sincere gratitude to our employees who have provided consumers with trusted product reviews,” Reviewed spokesperson Lark-Marie Antón told The Verge in an email.

But the site more recently has been the subject of scrutiny, at times by its own unionized employees. Last October, Reviewed staff publicly accused Gannett of publishing AI-generated product reviews on the site. The articles in question were written in a strange, stilted manner, and staff found that the authors the articles were attributed to didn’t seem to exist on LinkedIn and other platforms. Some questioned whether they were real at all. In response to questions, Gannett said the articles were produced by a third-party marketing company called AdVon Commerce and that the original reviews didn’t include proper disclosure. But Gannett denied that AI was involved.

As The Verge reported last fall, the marketing firm behind the Reviewed content is the same company that was responsible for a similar dust-up at Sports Illustrated, in which remarkably similar product reviews were published and attributed to freelancers. But in the case of Sports Illustrated, the evidence that AI was involved was obvious: authors’ headshots were for sale on AI image websites. Sports Illustrated maintained that though authors’ names were indeed not real, AdVon had assured the company that real humans wrote the content.

But an investigation by The Verge into AdVon showed that the company has spammed the web with marketing content, some of which former employees say was indeed AI-generated. Ben Faw, CEO and cofounder of AdVon, has for years used his connections in media to land contracts with news outlets, often setting up elaborate marketing schemes to enrich himself. AdVon’s marketing content appeared everywhere from small blogs to outlets like Us Weekly and the Los Angeles Times. In response to The Verge’s reporting, Faw said in an emailed statement that the company “generate[s] affiliate revenue which publishers use to fund newsroom operations and salaries.” He also said AdVon offers “human-only, AI-enhanced, and hybrid solutions” to customers hiring the firm.

Antón didn’t offer a reason for shutting down Reviewed. Product reviews are often seen as a lucrative venture for publishers, who can draw readers looking for purchasing advice on search engines and make money when readers buy items from the articles. In recent months, other news organizations, including The Associated Press, have announced similar ventures. But even content that has historically made news outlets money is vulnerable to changes in Google Search, where a bulk of traffic comes from. Some independent sites have said their search traffic has steadily evaporated, and Google’s pivot to AI search tools threatens to eat into revenue even further.

Unionized workers at Reviewed have gone on limited strikes multiple times after impasses with Gannett management. Most recently, in July, staffers staged a temporary work stoppage, saying they were expected to take on additional work without adjustments to compensation. Gannett didn’t comment on whether staff at Reviewed will be offered new roles at the company or whether they would be laid off.

Correction, August 26th: This story previously stated that Reviewed staff were given additional work with adjustments to pay. Their compensation was not adjusted.

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Image: Wizards of the Coast

Wizards of the Coast has walked back some of its planned updates to D&D Beyond. All your current Dungeons & Dragons characters sheets are once again safe with the publisher no longer forcing updates to newer versions of spells, weapons, and magic items.
Last week, as a part of the updates to Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition — collectively known as the 2024 revision — the publisher announced that it would update D&D Beyond, the tabletop RPG’s official digital toolkit that players use to reference content and create characters using a host of official and third-party sources. The update would add the new 2024 rulebooks to the toolkit, mark outdated content with a “legacy” badge, and change players’ character sheets to reflect all the new rules and features.

Over the coming months, you’re going to see big changes here on D&D Beyond! ⚙️ Here’s a breakdown of what we’re working on: https://t.co/QJMhaPigZD pic.twitter.com/GttPl9GJdf— D&D Beyond (@DnDBeyond) August 21, 2024

That last part is critical to understanding why some D&D players (including my own dungeon master) spent the last 72 hours in a state of panic. Though some of the 2024 revisions are essentially cosmetic in nature — for example, “races” will be updated to “species” — other updates like the ones to weapons, spells, and magic items fundamentally alter the game. Wizards of the Coast would have essentially overwritten every user’s character sheet with the new information whether they wanted it or not.
“All entries for mundane and magical items, weapons, armor, and spells will also be updated to their 2024 version,” Wizards said in its initial announcement.
The publisher did say that players would have the option to continue to use the 2014 version of spells and magic items. But doing so requires using the game’s homebrew rules. which aren’t known for being user-friendly.
To put this in perspective, think of it like owning a car. Imagine that after 10 years with one car, learning its ins and outs, the manufacturer decides that when it rolls out the latest model of your car, it’s going to magically change your car to the new model, too. Now, though your car is essentially the same, it doesn’t work like you’re used to. And when you ask the manufacturer if you can go back to your old car, it says you can but that you’ll have to manually restore it yourself.
Thankfully, Wizards of the Coast isn’t in the car business, and after a weekend of backlash on social media, the company will no longer force the new changes on players.
“We misjudged the impact of this change, and we agree that you should be free to choose your own way to play,” Wizard’s said in its latest announcement. Current character sheets will only be updated with new terminology while the older versions of spells, magic items, and weapons will be preserved. Also, players who have access to both the 2014 and 2024 digital versions will have the option to use both when creating new characters.
Essentially, Wizards of the Coast is doing what it should have done in the first place: simply adding the new content and giving players the choice to opt in.

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Wizards of the Coast has walked back some of its planned updates to D&D Beyond. All your current Dungeons & Dragons characters sheets are once again safe with the publisher no longer forcing updates to newer versions of spells, weapons, and magic items.

Last week, as a part of the updates to Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition — collectively known as the 2024 revision — the publisher announced that it would update D&D Beyond, the tabletop RPG’s official digital toolkit that players use to reference content and create characters using a host of official and third-party sources. The update would add the new 2024 rulebooks to the toolkit, mark outdated content with a “legacy” badge, and change players’ character sheets to reflect all the new rules and features.

That last part is critical to understanding why some D&D players (including my own dungeon master) spent the last 72 hours in a state of panic. Though some of the 2024 revisions are essentially cosmetic in nature — for example, “races” will be updated to “species” — other updates like the ones to weapons, spells, and magic items fundamentally alter the game. Wizards of the Coast would have essentially overwritten every user’s character sheet with the new information whether they wanted it or not.

“All entries for mundane and magical items, weapons, armor, and spells will also be updated to their 2024 version,” Wizards said in its initial announcement.

The publisher did say that players would have the option to continue to use the 2014 version of spells and magic items. But doing so requires using the game’s homebrew rules. which aren’t known for being user-friendly.

To put this in perspective, think of it like owning a car. Imagine that after 10 years with one car, learning its ins and outs, the manufacturer decides that when it rolls out the latest model of your car, it’s going to magically change your car to the new model, too. Now, though your car is essentially the same, it doesn’t work like you’re used to. And when you ask the manufacturer if you can go back to your old car, it says you can but that you’ll have to manually restore it yourself.

Thankfully, Wizards of the Coast isn’t in the car business, and after a weekend of backlash on social media, the company will no longer force the new changes on players.

“We misjudged the impact of this change, and we agree that you should be free to choose your own way to play,” Wizard’s said in its latest announcement. Current character sheets will only be updated with new terminology while the older versions of spells, magic items, and weapons will be preserved. Also, players who have access to both the 2014 and 2024 digital versions will have the option to use both when creating new characters.

Essentially, Wizards of the Coast is doing what it should have done in the first place: simply adding the new content and giving players the choice to opt in.

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