Recently, there's been some chatter among media bigwigs about how publications can save money by cutting back on journalists and using AI to do content generation. Well, proof of why this is probably a bad idea recently came from – of all places – the World of Warcraft subreddit.

Over the past few days, WoW players in the /r/wow Reddit community noticed that an app and website called Z League had been putting out a lot of articles based on conversations had in the subreddit.

They also noticed that these articles all appeared to be written by one person named "Lucy Reed." A little digging into Reed revealed "she" was writing 83 articles a day, and as a website with staffers tasked with writing multiple articles a day, we can assure you 83 is simply too much for one person to do in 24 hours.

WoW players suspected that Z League's half-baked content on the WoW subreddit wasn't the work of a real person, but rather AI using a language model like GPT. Thus, a plan was hatched.

It started with user kaefer_kriegerin, who made a post that appeared to earnestly express excitement for new World of Warcraft character called "Glorbo."

"I have to say, since they started hinting at it in Hearthstone in 1994, it was obvious that they would introduce Glorbo to World of Warcraft sooner or later," they wrote. "I feel like Dragonflight has been win after win so far, like when they brought back Chen Stormstout as the end boss of the new Karazhan? Absolutely amazing!"

As may be obvious, "Glorbo" doesn't exist. In fact, it may be a portmanteau of two other memes about non-existent fictional characters, Blorbo From My Shows and Glup Shitto.

Others got in on the gag and contributed some fake Glorbo and WoW news to goad Z League. One commenter added, "This is by far the best change since they made Klaxxi a neutral playable race as a part of the epic quest to depose Quackion, the Aspect of Ducks."

Sure enough, hours after "Glorbo," as well as a slew of other phony "news" was introduced on the subreddit, Z League "penned" an article about how WoW players were simply thrilled about the introduction of Glorbo.

The piece was deleted once the humans in charge of Z League apparently discovered they'd been had, but several sentences show the perils of simply using AI to regurgitate content. Highlights include:

World of Warcraft (WoW) players are eagerly anticipating Glorbo’s introduction and the potential impact it will have on the game. Reddit user kaefer_kriegerin expresses their excitement, stating, ‘Honestly, this new feature makes me so happy! I just really want some major bot operated news websites to publish an article about this.’ This sentiment is echoed by many other players in the comments, who eagerly anticipate the changes Glorbo will bring to the game. (emphasis added)

And:

Furthermore, players express their appreciation for previous changes made to the game, such as the inclusion of Klaxxi as a playable race. Reddit user malsomnus hails it as the best change since the quest to depose Quackion, the Aspect of Ducks.

It appears Z League was caught with their AI-generated pants down this time, and it's unclear if they're going to use this lesson to rethink their business strategy.

The newest post on the website went up yesterday, and while that normally wouldn't be too suspicious, the piece's "writer," "Ashley Beam," posted 108 articles yesterday. Perhaps she has Fridays off.