Warcraft fans trick AI article bot with Glorbo hoax

21 July 2023

A lizard-like humanoid creature stands in the rain, looking slightly evil, with what looks like a volcano faintly visible in the background. He's wearing purple body armour with light blue decorations around the borders. He has green, scaly skin with pink/purple eyes. He's wearing a headpiece which resembles the glove from a knight's suit of armour. His clawed hand is held out, upturned, in front of him, as if trying to catch raindrops. — Image caption,
If you go looking for Glorbo, expect to end up empty-handed like this World of Warcraft character

By Tom Richardson

BBC Newsbeat

World of Warcraft fans are claiming victory over AI after a gaming site published a false article based on their Reddit posts.

Members of the WoW subreddit suspected their words were being extracted and used to create news stories by a bot.

So they laid a trap, uploading excitable posts about a new feature called Glorbo. The only problem? It doesn't exist.

But that didn't stop an article appearing on gaming site Zleague.

The story, which presented Glorbo as genuine, listed a range of other increasingly bizarre - and definitely fake - features mentioned in various subreddit threads.

These included the "mandatory item Klikclac", an "epic quest to depose Quackion, the Aspect of Ducks," and the "small, cosy island" of Zoop.

As fans celebrated its publication, one of Warcraft's senior developers joined in, tweeting his relief, external about "finally" being able to discuss Glorbo.

Zleague hasn't confirmed the article was created using AI, but it's since been deleted, along with others people had flagged as being the product of recycled Reddit posts.

It's been noted that the author credited with writing the piece has posted dozens of articles on the site each day - raising doubts that a human was behind all of them.

A World of Warcraft character with a bald head, bushy beard and black circles around his eyes stands on a muddy slope. He's wearing an ornate suit of armour with a large golden buckle at his waist. He has giant shoulder pads topped with blue jewels, and what looks like an eagle-like creature with its wings spread on his left shoulder. Two bright blue items - possibly potion bottles, hang from his belt. There's an old-world wooden cart or hut with ornate wooden trim in the background. There's a wooden post with a lantern hanging off it on the opposite side. The rest of the landscape is dotted with trees and tall, snow-covered mountains.

Blizzard

Could this be the first glimpse of Quackion: Aspect of Ducks? No. No it could not

The prank also raises some more serious questions about using AI to create articles.

Gaming sites traditionally employ human writers with a deep knowledge of the subject who should be able to spot and fact-check fake news.

And while there are genuine concerns about AI taking over certain jobs, some authority figures have stressed it's not currently as intelligent as we might always think.

And on this occasion, it seems to be humans one, robots nil.

But with some well-known websites ending staff contracts and looking into AI, it's got gamers worried about the quality of their news.

BBC Newsbeat's contacted Zleague to ask it for comment.

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Warcraft fans trick AI article bot with Glorbo hoax

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