The Scoop
Business Insider announced this week that it wants staff to better incorporate AI into its journalism.
But less than a year ago, the company had to quietly apologize to some staff for accidentally recommending that they read books that did not appear to exist but instead may have been generated by AI.
In an email to staff last May, a senior editor at Business Insider sent around a list of what she called “Beacon Books,” a list of memoirs and other acclaimed business nonfiction books, with the idea of ensuring staff understood some of the fundamental figures and writing powering good business journalism.
Many of the recommendations were well-known recent business, media, and tech nonfiction titles such as Too Big To Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin, DisneyWar by James Stewart, and Super Pumped by Mike Isaac.
But a few were unfamiliar to staff. Simply Target: A CEO’s Lessons in a Turbulent Time and Transforming an Iconic Brand by former Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel was nowhere to be found. Neither was Jensen Huang: the Founder of Nvidia, which was supposedly published by the company Charles River Editors in 2019. Semafor could not find any evidence that either book exists.
The list also recommended a book called Mark Zuckerberg Autobiography: The Man Behind the Code, supposedly written by an author named Jasper Robin. While a Goodreads page exists for the book, which claims it is only 61 pages long, the page has no reviews or other information. It is not available for purchase on Amazon or from any other retailers.
Another recommendation was The House of Morgan: An Intimate Portrait of the Most Powerful Banking Family in the World by Fredric Morgan, though no such book exists. The company likely meant to recommend The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance by Ron Chernow. Snapchat 101: Everything You Need to Know about Snapchat for Business by Andrew MacCarthy was on the list of suggested reads, though no such book exists. (BI could have been meaning to recommend Snapchat 101: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started on Snapchat: Or, How to Use Snapchat Like a Teen by Scott Perry, a how-to guide for how to use the photo messaging platform.)
The company also recommended The Costco Experience: An Unofficial Survivor’s Guide by someone named Celeste Olivier, published in 2008. The real version was written by Larry Gerston in 2003.
A Business Insider spokesperson declined to comment.
Know More
The embarrassing incident was shared with Semafor last week after the company said it was doubling down on AI amid steep staff reductions. In a note on Thursday, CEO Barbara Peng said that the company had launched multiple AI-driven products including gen-AI onsite search and an AI-powered paywall, and would soon be rolling out additional products. She also noted that 70% of staff were already using enterprise ChatGPT, and the company was building “prompt libraries and sharing everyday use cases that help us work faster, smarter, and better.”
“The media industry is at a crossroads,” Peng wrote. “Business models are under pressure, distribution is unstable, and competition for attention is fiercer than ever. At the same time, there’s a huge opportunity for companies who harness AI first. Our strategy is strong, but we don’t have the luxury of time. The pace of change combined with the opportunity ahead demands bold, focused action — and it’s our chance to lead the pack.”
Some employees have been wary of the incorporation of AI into everyday work tasks, believing that the company will eventually replace journalists with AI. In a statement after the move, Business Insider’s union expressed frustration with the cuts and the simultaneous embrace of AI.
“Tone deaf doesn’t even begin to describe this,” the union wrote.