--- title: "Content described as AI-generated or programmatic" url: https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/ai-generated-or-programmatic-content/ updated: 2026-10-07 publisher: FirstPass Memo (hello@firstpassmemo.com) --- Red flag explained · Traffic and platforms # Content described as AI-generated or programmatic Short answer: If the listing says the content is AI-generated, written with an AI tool or built with programmatic SEO, a competitor can produce the same pages quickly, and search updates have repeatedly cut traffic to sites like this. That is not a problem in itself, but it changes what you are buying. Ask what share was written or edited by a person and what the site has that cannot be generated. Updated 7 October 2026 · Checker rule AI_CONTENT · By Joan Murphy (https://firstpassmemo.com/about/joan-murphy/) (pen name) · How we check (https://firstpassmemo.com/methodology/) · Corrections (https://firstpassmemo.com/editorial-policy/) ## Check a listing now, free FirstPass Memo offers a free red-flag checker for business-for-sale listings and a $79 first-pass memo on a specific listing you send, paid after delivery. Paste any listing below for payback, the asking multiple and its red flags. Nothing you paste leaves your browser. Open the full checker (https://firstpassmemo.com/checker/) to unlock every flag with its seller question. Only know the price and monthly profit? Put them in the link and the check runs on its own: firstpassmemo.com/checker/?ask=45000&profit=1500 (https://firstpassmemo.com/checker/?ask=45000&profit=1500&via=box). ## When the checker raises it Raised as medium severity when the listing text says the content is AI-generated, AI-written or created with an AI tool, or describes programmatic or auto-generated pages. High severity when the business is also under 12 months old. ## Why it matters What you pay for in a content site is traffic that keeps coming. Pages that anyone can generate in bulk are a weak reason for that traffic to last. On a site under a year old, there has not been time to show that the pages survive search updates. ## A worked example Composite example, not a real listing Recipe site with 2,400 AI-generated articles, display ads Asking price: $18,000 Average monthly revenue: $800 Average monthly profit: $700 Business age: 8 months Owner hours: 2 hours per week Traffic or revenue sources typed in: Organic search 90%, Direct 10%. What the red-flag checker (https://firstpassmemo.com/checker/) returns: payback of 25.7 months on average monthly profit, and this flag: High Content described as AI-generated or programmatic on a site under 12 months old Content that software can produce in bulk is easy for anyone to copy, and search engines have repeatedly cut traffic to such sites. Ask: What share of pages was written or edited by a person, what does the site have that a competitor could not generate in a week, and how did traffic move through recent search updates? The same example also raises: Organic search is about 90% of traffic (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/organic-search-over-half-of-traffic/), Only income source on a young site: display advertising (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/single-affiliate-or-ad-network-on-a-young-site/), About 8 months of history (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/under-12-months-of-history/), No connected data source mentioned (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/no-connected-data-source/), Concentration not disclosed (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/concentration-not-disclosed/). ## What to check - Ask what share of pages was written or edited by a person. - Ask for Search Console clicks month by month, through recent search updates. - Ask what the site has that a competitor could not generate in a week: data, an audience, links, a brand. ## Questions to send the seller - What share of pages was written or edited by a person, what does the site have that a competitor could not generate in a week, and how did traffic move through recent search updates? ## Related flags - Search-dependent traffic (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/organic-search-over-half-of-traffic/) - Under 12 months old (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/under-12-months-of-history/) - Fully automated claim (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/described-as-fully-automated/) - All red flags explained (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/) ## Useful next - Is this listing an AI-built site? (https://firstpassmemo.com/answers/is-this-listing-an-ai-built-site/) - Free red-flag checker (https://firstpassmemo.com/checker/): paste a listing and see which flags it raises. Found a red flag this rule misses? The red-flag bounty (https://firstpassmemo.com/bounty/) pays in free memos. The checker is a set of plain rules, not an AI model, and its flags are prompts for questions, not verdicts. Composite examples are invented. Informational screening only, not investment, legal or tax advice. ## Looking at a specific listing? Get a full memo — $79, pay after delivery. Paste the link; your memo arrives within 24 hours (Mon–Fri). $79, pay after delivery: we send the memo first, then a payment link. Human quick reviews cost $199–$390. --- FirstPass Memo is informational screening, not investment, legal, tax, accounting or valuation advice, and not an audit. Seller figures are not independently verified. HTML version: https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/ai-generated-or-programmatic-content/