Business Insider has announced a renewed push for staff to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into its journalism. This comes less than a year after the company quietly apologized to staff for distributing a recommended reading list, known as 'Beacon Books,' that included several books that did not exist and may have been generated by AI.
In May 2024, a senior editor at Business Insider circulated the 'Beacon Books' list intended to inform reporting. While many of the recommended titles were legitimate, some, such as 'Simply Target: A CEO’s Lessons in a Turbulent Time,' 'Jensen Huang: the Founder of Nvidia,' and 'Mark Zuckerberg Autobiography: The Man Behind the Code,' could not be found in any public listings and appeared to be AI-generated or fabricated. A Business Insider spokesperson declined to comment on the incident.
Business Insider recently laid off 21% of its staff and replaced around 200 human resources positions with AI-driven agents. The company is not alone in this trend: IBM has replaced approximately 8,000 jobs, mostly in human resources, with its AskHR AI platform, and Microsoft has announced 6,000 layoffs, citing a focus on innovation and increased use of AI.