Has Anybody Seen the Miami Herald Bot?

Back in October 2021, a new writer appeared on the Miami Herald's masthead: the Miami Herald Bot.

The robo-reporter penned its first article on October 15, 2021, titled "North Miami Beach, Florida house sells for $2.4 million," before it pumped out another three real estate stories that day (two of which were posted at once). The bot has since authored hundreds of stories for Miami's daily newspaper of record, covering real estate sales, hurricanes, and even dabbling in food reporting over the past few years.

But around November 2023, the bot's byline suddenly stopped appearing on the paper's website. What appears to be its latest story was published on November 21, 2023, with the headline, "5 houses were sold in Miami Beach area last week. This list shows the most expensive."

So, where is the bot? Was it promoted? Hit with the latest round of journalism layoffs? Perhaps it moved on to public relations?

Neither the newspaper's executive editor, Alex Mena, nor a spokesperson for the McClatchy Company, which owns the Herald, responded to New Times' emailed questions about the whereabouts of the bot. The bot (yes, it has its own email) also did not respond to our emailed request for comment.

Back in 2021, the Herald joined a growing list of major news organizations around the world that were enlisting artificial intelligence writing tools.

While some journalists have seen the rise of artificial intelligence in newsrooms as a threat, and the widespread use of artificial intelligence software certainly hasn't come without hiccups, some media experts argue that the technology can actually help with productivity and allow sentient reporters to spend more time on larger projects.

News site Hoodline recently made headlines when it was discovered that the company was placing fake reporter names and profiles on AI-generated online stories.

As previously reported by New Times, the Herald bot kicked off its career writing real estate stories for the paper, which typically followed a template that included the property's address, date of sale, sale price, and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.

But not all of the bot's articles made sense. For instance, one story it authored in 2021 with the headline "Brickell-area, Florida house sells for $825,000" was not about a house in Brickell — but instead about a home 15 miles northwest in Opa-locka.

While it remains unclear whether the bot is unplugged for good, the Herald's archive provides a glimpse into what might been its final days.

About a month before the bot's final story went live, the Herald republished an article from the McClatchy News Division on October 27, 2023, with the headline, "To our readers: How we are using AI in our newsrooms." The story, which explained how artificial intelligence is being used in the company's newsrooms, noted the use of the Miami Herald Bot and the fact that its articles include endnotes indicating that AI was used in the creation of the content.

"This article was generated by the Miami Herald Bot, artificial intelligence software that analyzes structured information from prominent real estate data providers and applies it to templates created by journalists in the newsroom," the endnote reads. "We are experimenting with this and other new ways of providing more useful content to our readers and subscribers."

In late November, several weeks after McClatchy's AI article was reposted, the bot fell silent.

Good night, for now, sweet prince.

Have you seen the Miami Herald Bot? Please reach out to us at [email protected].