Medium bans AI-generated content from its paid Partner Program

The publishing platform Medium will be banning AI-generated content from its paid Partner program in a new policy that goes into effect from May 1, 2024.

All content and stories generated using artificial intelligence will be taken off payrolls and could see users getting taken off the monetization platform.

An email written to current partners has been leaked by the X user @JonGillhams, with the notice highlighting how the platform is intended for “human storytelling, no AI-generated writing.”

Google and Medium have both just released updated policies identifying and restricting the use of AI text on their platforms…

April 9th @Google Updated its Merchant Center requiring merchants to identify AI-generated text:

"will require merchants to disclose text content that… pic.twitter.com/EYc5kQ1tza

— Jonathan Gillham (@JonGillhams) April 11, 2024

The Medium team says they’ve “recently defined and clarified our specific policies around the different uses of AI-generated content and technologies, and what is allowed in the Medium Partner Program.”

People are warned that if they have used AI to write the full article or story, as a Partner member, they will have their work removed and potentially their enrollment in the program revoked.

The artificial intelligence content policy differs for those who aren’t earning money from their Medium-published work.

In its policy, the American platform says “AI-generated writing that is disclosed as such and is not behind the paywall is eligible for General Distribution, but it is not eligible for Boost distribution.”

If the work isn’t disclosed properly, this will be given Network Only distribution so it won’t be eligible for wider publication.

The publisher explains it as a thorough detection process to identify AI writing as they utilize a wide variety of tools combined with human review.

Medium celebrates million member milestone

The update in the policy comes as the platform sees a million members on the site for the first time ever.

The CEO at Medium, Tony Stubblebine, took to a blog post to thank the members as the milestone rolled around: “There is a moment in our not-so-distant past where a million members seemed impossible.

“So for us, we’re feeling some combination of relief and disbelief: ‘Wow, this really just happened?’

…And to every Medium member. Thank you for being a part of this community. We’re so glad you’re here.”

Featured Image: Photo by Thomas Lefebvre on Unsplash