The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW), a popular Apple blog that shut down in 2015, has recently resurfaced in a highly controversial manner. It appears that TUAW is now being run as an AI-generated content factory, producing Apple-related “news”. According to the site’s “About Us” section, it was acquired by a company called “Web Orange Limited” from Yahoo, but without its original content. The new owners claim to have a mission of providing authoritative and engaging content for Apple enthusiasts and tech professionals.
However, the problem lies in the fact that the company has falsified bios from former authors who wrote for TUAW more than a decade ago. One of these authors, Christina Warren, noticed that her name and bio were being used on the new TUAW site with a different, obviously fake author image. The site also falsified names and bios of other former TUAW writers in a similar manner. After Warren’s discovery, the name next to her fake bio was changed to “Mary Brown,” and other fake bios were also modified.
This unethical behavior extends beyond TUAW. The same company also acquired old Apple blog iLounge and subjected it to the same treatment. While buying an old news site’s domain and populating it with AI-generated articles may not be illegal, it is certainly sleazy, especially when actual human authors are being signed under this content and their bios are being falsified. This could potentially lead to legal consequences.
The quality of the content on these sites is also questionable. Having read some of it ourselves, we can confidently say that it is clearly AI-generated and of poor quality. It seems that this entire endeavor is primarily an SEO play, aiming to extract value from the recognizable names and web domains of these old sites. However, rather than seeing them resurrected in such an egregiously unethical way, it would be better to let these old sites rest in peace.
In conclusion, the resurgence of TUAW and iLounge as AI-generated content factories raises concerns about the ethics and quality of the content being produced. Falsifying author bios and using recognizable names without their consent is not only sleazy but potentially grounds for legal action. It is clear that this is primarily an SEO strategy, rather than a genuine effort to provide valuable content to readers. Hopefully, these old sites will be laid to rest rather than being exploited in this unethical manner.
