I've been a subscriber to the Toronto Star's Saturday paper for years, but this is the first time I've seen this - although it may have been going on for a while. 

They're articles/lists that are credited to something called "Open Team Data," which looks suspiciously like something Artificial Intelligence might generate. So what is it exactly? Here's how the paper defines this new entity that's supplying content to its site.

"The Torstar Open Data Team is a collaborative of editorial, data and technical staff who work with public open data sources to provide useful and actionable stories for readers. Topics covered to date include scheduled roadworks, restaurant food inspections and water quality at public beaches."

Is that clear to anybody or does that seem sort of a word salad that explains very little? Mostly, they're just lists for now, which I suppose is relatively harmless. But if they're automatically generated without much human intervention, readers should know that.

And the other question, of course, is will this be expanded to eventually include actual stories in the future as the technology improves and fewer reporters are hired? I hope not, but with the newspaper industry shrinking and the Star's financial future already somewhat murky, I have to wonder if this is where we're headed. 

You may remember earlier this year when Sports Illustrated was accused of using AI to write articles on its site, stories that may have included some wrong or questionable facts. That cost the CEO his job. All newspapers should tread carefully here. Generating a verifiable list is fine, I suppose. But will it go beyond that? And does this bother you at all?

Here's an example of a list article posted on the Star site that credits "Open Team Data." Do you think it's AI generated or was there some human intervention here? I honestly don't know. But it's a question worth asking.