Italian Newspaper Says It Has Published World's First AI-Generated Edition

Italian newspaper Il Foglio claims to have published the world's first entirely AI-generated edition as part of a month-long experiment to explore AI's impact on journalism. The special four-page supplement, available in print and online, features AI-written articles, headlines, and reader letters. The only thing the human journalists provided were prompts. The Guardian reports: The front page of the first edition of Il Foglio AI carries a story referring to the US president, Donald Trump, describing the 'paradox of Italian Trumpians' and how they rail against 'cancel culture' yet either turn a blind eye, or worse, 'celebrate' when 'their idol in the US behaves like the despot of a banana republic.' The front page also features a column headlined 'Putin, the 10 betrayals,' with the article highlighting '20 years of broken promises, torn-up agreements and words betrayed' by Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.

In a rare upbeat story about the Italian economy, another article points to the latest report from Istat, the national statistics agency, on the redistribution of income, which shows the country 'is changing, and not for the worse' with salary increases for about 750,000 workers being among the positive effects of income tax reforms. On page 2 is a story about 'situationships' and how young Europeans are fleeing steady relationships. The articles were structured, straightforward and clear, with no obvious grammatical errors. However, none of the articles published in the news pages directly quote any human beings.

The final page runs AI-generated letters from readers to the editor, with one asking whether AI will render humans 'useless' in the future. 'AI is a great innovation, but it doesn't yet know how to order a coffee without getting the sugar wrong,' reads the AI-generated response.

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