Today on The Spill, one article link received more clicks than any other article highlighted in this curated newsletter this entire year. It was entitled “The Absolute Best Winery in Every U.S. State”. It is indicative of two things. 1) Why wine lovers should support writers at Substack and wine publications, and 2) a confirmation that clickbait headlines and stories rule the day.
Let me first start by saying this story wasn’t just about the best winery in every state. It was about the “ABSOLUTE” best winery in every state. That’s all I’m absolutely going to say about that.
When this story came up on my feed as I was sitting in my garden building The Spill early this morning, it was perfectly obvious that I was looking at a story designed for SEO success. This doesn’t bother me because I don’t care what an article is built for. If it’s interesting, entertaining, fun, or educational, the point of writing it doesn’t really inform whether I’ll include it in The Spill.
However, as I read through it, I had a real suspicion the story was written by AI. The syntax, the consistent quirks of grammar throughout the story, the lack of any first-person perspective, and the repetitive nature of the story all pointed to a large language model AI. Plus, try to imagine writing this story. The time it would take to research wine production and wineries in every state, then make an assessment of which of each state’s wineries is “the best” would take days if not months.
However, it was written by Xenia Turner, a real person living in Vermont.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.