An old Apple blog and its former authors are the latest victims of AI-written sludge. TUAW (“The Unofficial Apple Weblog”) was shut down by AOL in 2015, but last year a new owner acquired the domain and began posting articles under the bylines of the former authors. These are people who haven’t worked there for over 10 years. And the new owner, who also appears to run other AI sludge websites, appears to be trying to hide.
Christina Warren, who left a longtime career as a technology journalist to join Microsoft and then GitHub as a developer advocate, shared screenshots of what happened on Tuesday, showing that Warren has been writing new articles since July, even though she no longer works at GitHub. TUAW Since 2009, she has The Verge.
In another screenshot, Warren’s name appears alongside a list of other former TUAW writers, including Brett Terpstra, Chris Lawson and Chris Ulrich, next to a supposedly AI-generated photo and general biography, with all of the listed author photos replaced with AI-generated images. 404 Media There have been reports, and many 404 They have no involvement with the new website. Apple Insider It was also discovered that author William Gallagher’s name has been inappropriately attached to content by TUAW’s new owners.
Additionally, the new TUAW appears to be using generative AI to crudely recreate previous writers’ work.
According to TUAW’s “About Us” page, TUAW is now owned by Web Orange Limited, which purchased the website “with no original content” from Yahoo IP Holdings LLC earlier this year.
So instead of that “original content,” the new TUAW appears to have plagiarized it using AI, which is easy to see by comparing the actual archived TUAW posts. Engadget To the new website one.
For example, let’s take a look at this very innocuous post about the changes to the Shift key on iOS keyboards in iOS 7.1: Below is the first paragraph of Erica Sadun’s original post, “iOS 7.1’s New Shift Key Icon Is Awesome.”
Today, with the release of 7.1, loud cries of discontent began to ring out from TUAW back channels. “Oh no,” screamed the victims. “The world is ending — Apple redesigned the Shift key icon!” Our own Dave Caolo also wrote about the change, saying it’s “a good change overall, but it will take some getting used to.”
What’s new in TUAW? A different headline, “iOS 7.1 update introduces cool new Shift key icon,” a new author, “Matthew Wilson,” and a preface that reads as if the same words have been run through a thesaurus.
When version 7.1 was announced today, there was a noticeable uproar among the TUAW team. “Oh my goodness,” they exclaimed. “It’s almost over. Apple has updated the Shift key icon!” Colleague Dave Caolo commented on the update: “It’s a positive tweak, but it’s going to take some getting used to.”
Warren said he was familiar with the Zombie brand but was shocked that the owner of a shady new website would go so far as to steal personal information about its writers.
“The worst case scenario is MTV News “The archives disappear, but I was faced with the paradox that what’s worse than no archive at all is this degraded version, this weird zombie corpse that looks like it but isn’t,” she says. The Verge.
“I was like, ‘Damn, this is so shitty.’ Feel free to quote me.” — Christina Warren
TUAW’s new owners aren’t trying to hide what they’ve done entirely: “Determined to revive its traditions, the new team at Web Orange Limited has meticulously rewritten the archived content available on archive.org, updating it for modern standards and relevance while ensuring the preservation of TUAW’s rich history,” the new TUAW “About Us” page reads. We reached out to Apollo Management Group, which purchased Yahoo’s assets in 2021, to get a better understanding of what Web Orange has acquired.
But the new TUAW also appears to have decided that not all of its copying was justified. Since Warren’s post, which she says she also sent “strongly worded emails” threatening legal action, her author name on the new TUAW has been changed to “Mary Brown.” Similarly, Brett Terpstra has become “Paul Terpstra,” Chris Dawson has become “Kevin Hall,” and Chris Ulrich has become “Matthew Wilson.”
On its website, Web Orange Limited describes itself as a Hong Kong-based “online advertising agency” that manages “some of the largest media sites on the Internet.” i Loungeanother old Apple blog.
i Loungehas also resurfaced as a site hosting AI sludge disguised as human work, and we discovered that the profile picture of its most prominent “author” is a stock image.
For example, the image of Lucy Bennett above has also appeared on iPhone cases and as a model for online dating sites.
we, i Lounge Author Samantha Wiley (who also uses a stock image for her profile picture) published three articles in three minutes today. Wiley’s author page has numerous examples of authors publishing multiple articles in a very short space of time. While this is not uncommon for authors with multiple embargoes, it does not appear to be the case here. Bennett and Wiley also own X accounts, which they follow. i Lounge No posts. (Also, there are similar X usernames “editorlucyb” and “editorwiley”.)
Although both men claim in their McCrack profiles that they have worked for other publications, we found no evidence that Wiley has written for any other publications. Baltimore Post or Houston Press As stated, Muck Rack has been contacted for comment.
Another Web Orange website, Soup.io, features a person named “Jorgie Soto,” whose stock image profile picture was once used to advertise a VoIP service.
until today, i Lounge‘s About page identified its owner, and that of Web Orange Limited, as Haider Ali Khan, a “prominent Australian entrepreneur, investor, author and cyber security expert.” But all mention of Khan has been removed from that page, and Khan’s personal website, which was functional until yesterday, now displays an error message. The website’s owner did not respond to our emails. Khan’s name has also been removed from other Web Orange websites.
We have yet to confirm any clear link between Haider Ali Khan and “Web Orange Limited,” but there is a company registered under that name in Hong Kong. Khan’s personal website also states that he started a web hosting company called Sudoly, which has since been renamed OrangeHost, with Haider Ali Khan now as its CEO. OrangeHost’s Haider Ali Khan is in Dubai according to his LinkedIn page. However, we have confirmed that OrangeHost is a US company registered in Delaware.
Web Orange Limited said it has also worked with companies such as Avast, Adobe, Cloudways, ExpressVPN and Hostinger, and has requested comment on how it has worked with the company.
Warren and her TUAW My colleague’s name is new TUAW She believes she no longer needs to shut down the website and get lawyers involved: “What really upsets me is that completely new content is being attributed to these authors, which was unexpected.”
“Plagiarism… I don’t like it, but at the same time, you have to choose who you fight,” she says.
