[Login Tech] Searched for 'Poisonous Mushroom Benefits' on Naver Blog... "Good for Immunity and Tasty When Stir-Fried"

Posts Encouraging Consumption of Highly Toxic Mushrooms
Appear to Be Written by Generative AI
AI Used to Mass-Produce Blog Content for Profit
"Reduced Exposure in Search Results... No Revenue Paid"

"The red deer antler mushroom is more than just a simple ingredient; it is like a treasure trove filled with various nutrients that benefit your health. Let's take a closer look at its appeal."

This is an excerpt from a post uploaded to a Naver blog on the 21st. After searching for "red deer antler mushroom benefits" and checking the blog search results, a post about cooking methods for the red deer antler mushroom appeared. The blogger introduced the mushroom as being rich in antioxidants, claiming it helps boost immunity and is also beneficial for bone health. The post also detailed cooking methods, such as stir-frying the mushroom or using it as an ingredient in soup.

However, all of this information is false. The red deer antler mushroom is actually a poisonous mushroom. It contains a highly toxic substance called trichothecene, and even tasting a small amount can be fatal, let alone cooking and eating it.

Poisonous mushroom. Not related to the article content. Provided by Pixabay.

Given the structure, flow, and context of the blog post, it appears to have been written by generative artificial intelligence (AI). Although the content is false, it is fabricated in a way that makes it seem plausible and true. In fact, there was a recent controversy when OpenAI's ChatGPT, when shown an image of the red deer antler mushroom, responded by recommending people try eating it, claiming it was good for health.

According to the IT industry on June 27, there has recently been a surge of blog posts on portal sites that are believed to have been written using generative AI and contain false information. These blogs have produced a large number of posts on trending keywords or people, and based on the content and context, it is presumed that generative AI was used to write them.

It is believed that the motivation behind mass-producing low-quality posts using AI is to make a profit. For example, Naver Blog operates a program called "AdPost," which shares advertising revenue based on the number of views a post receives. To earn revenue through AdPost, a blog must meet certain criteria for the number of posts and visitors within a month. It appears that some are using generative AI to mass-produce low-quality posts in order to meet these requirements.

However, Naver explains that under current operating regulations, it is not possible to directly regulate posts mass-produced by AI. Since blogs are spaces where users directly create posts, there is a risk of infringing on their rights. There is also the practical limitation that it is impossible to determine in every case whether a user has used AI. A Naver representative stated, "Under our blog operating policy, it is realistically difficult to directly sanction posts unless they infringe on the rights of others, such as defamation or copyright infringement, or contain harmful or illegal content such as sexually explicit material."

Naver is reducing the exposure frequency of such low-quality content in search results through its algorithms. In addition, if a blog user posts low-quality content in a spam-like manner, revenue is not paid according to the operating policy. The representative said, "We filter out low-quality AI-generated posts when displaying search results based on various types of abuse patterns," adding, "Abusive content is also not eligible for monetization through AdPost under our terms and conditions."

Meanwhile, in May, Naver added an "AI Utilization" tag feature to its blog platform. This feature allows authors to clearly indicate when images or videos in a post were generated using AI technology. Naver explained that this helps users clearly identify the source of content and prevents confusion between AI-generated content and real content.

'AI Utilization' Tag Feature Added to Naver Blog. Provided by Naver