Ringer Co-Hosts Rebuke Bill Simmons's ChatGPT Ebert Bits as 2016 Media Venture Faces Backlash
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 1
Ringer Co-Hosts Rebuke Bill Simmons's ChatGPT Ebert Bits as 2016 Media Venture Faces Backlash
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 1
Summary
Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins publicly criticized Bill Simmons after he used ChatGPT on “The Rewatchables” to mimic deceased critic Roger Ebert’s views.
The backlash centers on complaints that the bits were disrespectful to Ebert and that Simmons, a writer himself, was using A.I. to appropriate another critic’s voice.
OpenAI ads have run on the show this year, sharpening the controversy after Fennessey said he and co-host Chris Ryan had already told Simmons, “Eh, that’s not cool.”
Dobbins, speaking on Sam Fragoso’s “Talk Easy,” said she had not known OpenAI was a sponsor—an awkward wrinkle for The Ringer, the company Simmons founded in 2016 and Spotify now owns.