Half of Canadians have negative opinion of latest Liberal budget: poll
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
As text-generative artificial intelligence programs like ChatGPT change the tide of web surfing, one Toronto blogger warns of a “seismic shift” in search engine optimization.
“Most small bloggers like myself rely on traffic revenue,” environmental journalist and blogger Candice Batista told CTV’s Your Morning on Wednesday. “People come to my website, I have third-party advertising on my website, I spend a lot of time researching and writing these articles. So without traffic, it affects my income directly.”
She added that the problem extends to all websites that use affiliate marketing.
“If you type in a search query into Google right now, it gives you a whole bunch of answers. Typically you get a few ads, then you get a ‘people also ask,’ maybe there’s some definitions pulled from specific websites. And then you get the search engine results, which is all the other websites.”
This, she says, is soon to change.
Google’s new generative AI program, which is not yet released in Canada, is intended to enhance the searching capabilities of browsers. It organizes and synthesizes information at the top of the web page, offering brief summaries of blogs and articles that align with a given search. Batista says this offers a problem with directing traffic to specific sites, which can affect numerous industries that depend on readerships and ad revenue.
“If you’re a person looking up how to make a smoked brisket, and they’ve already given you all the answers, what would be the incentive for you to then click on one of those websites?” she said.
“It’s a very uncertain time right now.”
Aside from the SEO changes that can affect the business model of online industries, such as blogging or content creation, she added that there’s a larger threat towards the spread of unverified information.
“I can typically put out three blogs, four blogs a week,” she explained. “That’s because they’re highly researched. They’re fact-checked. I do my due diligence. AI does not do that, unfortunately.”
Batista said that a higher volume of released content can also lead to a spike in misinformation. This is a result of AI blasting out simplified summaries of articles that require nuance and context.
She added, “If you have 20 bloggers in the same niche all generating very similar articles using AI, now you have a saturated market of similar articles.”
Recognizing the various opportunities this evolving tech can provide, Batista said, “It’s the smartest and dumbest thing humans have done.”
To learn more about Batista’s take on how AI will change the way we browse, watch the video above.
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
Appointing a trusted person to help with financial obligations can give you peace of mind. In his personal finance column for CTVNews.ca, Christopher Liew outlines the key benefits of naming a confidant to take over your financial responsibilities, if the need ever arises.
The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
A Minnesota state senator and former broadcast meteorologist told police that she broke into her stepmother's home because her stepmother refused to give her items of sentimental value from her late father, including his ashes, according to burglary charges filed Tuesday.
Australian police arrested seven teenagers accused of following a violent extremist ideology in raids across Sydney on Wednesday, as a judge extended a ban on social media platform X sharing video of a knife attack on a bishop that started the criminal investigation.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.