Clickbait headlines might not lure readers as much, may confuse AI

Clickbait might not lure readers as before – and using artificial intelligence to detect fake news might be much more complex than previously thought, a team of researchers suggest. Clickbait headlines might not be as enticing to readers as once thought, according to a team of researchers. They added that artificial intelligence – AI – may also come up short when it comes to correctly determining whether a headline is clickbait. In a series of studies, the researchers found that clickbait – headlines that often rely on linguistic gimmicks to tempt readers to read further – often did not perform any better and, in some cases, performed worse than traditional headlines. Because fake news is a concern on social media, researchers have explored using AI to systematically identify and block clickbait.