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Substack’s new tool tells you who has been writing their newsletters with AI | TechCrunch

Substack’s new tool tells you who has been writing their newsletters with AI | TechCrunch

Substack has launched a new feature that can show you which of your favorite newsletters are written with AI. This week, the writing and newsletter platform announced an integration with AI writing detection software Pangram that will allow users to scan posts, comments, and responses in the Substack app to see an estimate of how

Substack has launched a new feature that can show you which of your favorite newsletters are written with AI.

This week, the writing and newsletter platform announced an integration with AI writing detection software Pangram that will allow users to scan posts, comments, and responses in the Substack app to see an estimate of how much content was written by a human and how much was AI.

In the short term, the move could be bad for Substack’s business, as it could expose many of its platform’s newsletters that are not entirely written by people. This could potentially erode trust in the platform’s independent news and blogging ecosystem, or even damage its reputation as a host of high-quality content.

But in the long term, AI detection features could help keep Substack free of “AI junk” and encourage more users to trust that what they’re reading was written by a human, or at least better understand when it isn’t.

Image credits:Substack

Substack joins several platforms leaning toward labeling AI content as such, especially now that AI is playing a larger role in the creation process. AI-generated photos and videos are labeled on social media sites, while music streaming services have more recently begun labeling and, in some cases, penalizing AI-generated music.

“This is a good use of AI,” said Substack CEO Chris Best.

“When I used to introduce Substack to writers, one way to do it is… we’ll do everything for you except the hard part,” he explained in an online chat with Pangram founder Max Spero. “You have to have something: an idea worth reading, worth caring for, worth sharing. That thing is very difficult and very valuable… [S]The software should do everything else, but I think what you do want is for the person to do the hard part.”

The feature will be available in the Substack app for any post, note, reply, or comment longer than 100 characters. Substack will also allow its writers to include an optional AI author note, whereby creators can properly disclose their use of AI, the company told TechCrunch.

The company clarified that the tool is not intended to prohibit or penalize AI-assisted writing, but rather to encourage writers to add a “how do I do this” statement, where they explain their process.

Editors can also run Pangram on their own drafts before publication, and report and remove scans of their own work that they believe are errors.

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