What's going on here?
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Aaand the full comments thread from the original story: https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/after-a-routine-code-rejection-an-ai-agent-published-a-hit-piece-on-someone-by-name.1511649/
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What's going on here? The matplotlib maintainer this story is about correctly notes that all the quotes from his post in the article are made up.
UPDATE: Link was pulled; see below.
@mttaggart I am shocked, shocked that an article under the name of Ars' resident bot licker contains hallucinations.
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@mttaggart A 404 without an apology is a terrible look for them. In my life you get one shot. If you slop me once I will never use your service again...
@implementcontrols They issued this statement:
https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/journalistic-standards.1511650/post-44249741
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@mttaggart Makes me want to delete AT from my regular sources, but I'll hold off. They should issue an apology if they haven't.
We have pulled the story over concerns that it may have gone against our content policies. I locked the comments, and I'm going to lock this one too, we need some time.
We are doing an investigation right now to figure out exactly what happened. Given that it's Friday afternoon we probably won't have something to report back until Monday, but we will follow up with an explanation for our readers. Edit: Monday is a holiday, my bad, and I don't know what we'll be able to say, so I don't want to over-promise anything.
Wait until we learn the results (or lack thereof) of this investigation.
Maybe its just CYA, maybe they are seriously looking into this. -
@Sobex @bnys @mttaggart
and while this was a faster response than the trans hit piece of a couple years ago, it's the same playbook: lock comments, promise an investigation, and hope it dies down over the weekend.
A pity really. A place I used to value. For me, the anti-trans piece was the end.@colo_lee What anti-trans piece?
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WILD! Thank you @mttaggart for reporting on this!
โOkay, an update:
We have pulled the story over concerns that it may have gone against our content policies. I locked the comments, and I'm going to lock this one too, we need some time.
We are doing an investigation right now to figure out exactly what happened. Given that it's Friday afternoon we probably won't have something to report back until Monday, but we will follow up with an explanation for our readers. Edit: Monday is a holiday, my bad, and I don't know what we'll be able to say, so I don't want to over-promise anything.โ
Source: Ars forum https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/journalistic-standards.1511650/#post-44249741
@dusk @cR0w @mttaggart @iampytest1
"โฆI don't know what we'll be able to say, so I don't want to over-promise anythingโฆ"
You say, 'We won't use AI to write our publication'
There's nothing else to say.
There's no promises to be made.Ars prides itself on technical accuracy. AI slop is a direct hit to their identity. The longer they wait to give a straight answer, the more it *appears* like they're trying to figure out how much they can get away with, instead of just being bluntly transparent.
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@theorangetheme I think the lock might be SOP for a pulled story. And mods tend not to like rampant speculation.
@mttaggart @theorangetheme I'm genuinely confused about how this was allowed to happen. I tend to assume Ars has better editorial processes than some of the places I've worked, and both writers have long-term specialisations. My most charitable explanation is that someone created a version that they though would be funny and that was accidentally published. Very curious to see what their investigation yields.
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@mttaggart @theorangetheme I'm genuinely confused about how this was allowed to happen. I tend to assume Ars has better editorial processes than some of the places I've worked, and both writers have long-term specialisations. My most charitable explanation is that someone created a version that they though would be funny and that was accidentally published. Very curious to see what their investigation yields.
@aliide @mttaggart I think people either simply don't care anymore, or workers are under such corporate pressure to either deliver or use AI (or both), and this is the natural endpoint of that. Probably a little of both (I know genuine enthusiasts, for whom I've lost all respects, but I also know people who are basically being forced to use AI by their corporate overlords). I don't know much, but I do know this: journalists don't run newspapers.
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@aliide @mttaggart I think people either simply don't care anymore, or workers are under such corporate pressure to either deliver or use AI (or both), and this is the natural endpoint of that. Probably a little of both (I know genuine enthusiasts, for whom I've lost all respects, but I also know people who are basically being forced to use AI by their corporate overlords). I don't know much, but I do know this: journalists don't run newspapers.
@theorangetheme @mttaggart oh, we very much don't, and I've even had editors insert mistakes into my stories before, without giving me readbacks. But this isn't the case of a single word or phrase, this is entire quotes being inserted. I don't buy into the idea that there is pressure on journos to use AI though โ the point of the profession is original work, which AI by definition cannot do.
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@theorangetheme @mttaggart oh, we very much don't, and I've even had editors insert mistakes into my stories before, without giving me readbacks. But this isn't the case of a single word or phrase, this is entire quotes being inserted. I don't buy into the idea that there is pressure on journos to use AI though โ the point of the profession is original work, which AI by definition cannot do.
@aliide @mttaggart I hope you're right. I'm trying not to be too cynical, but it's hard lately.
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@aliide @mttaggart I hope you're right. I'm trying not to be too cynical, but it's hard lately.
@aliide @mttaggart Thank you for the work that you do, by the way. Good journalism is a treasure, and sorely needed.
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What's going on here? The matplotlib maintainer this story is about correctly notes that all the quotes from his post in the article are made up.
UPDATE: Link was pulled; see below.
@mttaggart simply amazing, in the worst possible way.
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What's going on here? The matplotlib maintainer this story is about correctly notes that all the quotes from his post in the article are made up.
UPDATE: Link was pulled; see below.
@mttaggart this is crazy. The Ai bots commenting under his blog is just rubbing salt on the wound.
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2/
Russia & Putin
Putin deluded himself that AI-enabled warfare will solve his manpower problems & population bottlenecks. 1.3 million dead soldiers so far in Ukraine.
https://www.neimagazine.com/news/putin-links-nuclear-buildout-to-russias-ai-ambitions/Look at that picture! This is why you need to figure out how to get control of a robot at distance.
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What's going on here? The matplotlib maintainer this story is about correctly notes that all the quotes from his post in the article are made up.
UPDATE: Link was pulled; see below.
@mttaggart
I don't know what is real anymore, holy shit.If I'm reading things correctly Ars hallucinated the quotes in the article but still linked to this blog post correctly, right?
https://theshamblog.com/an-ai-agent-published-a-hit-piece-on-me/
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3/
Koch Network
Building a White Supremacist Constitution one brick at a time over 60 years.The hate is now automated, corrupt, & well funded.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/us/politics/koch-network-2024-election-trump.htmlhttps://www.desmog.com/2025/12/11/the-koch-network-is-pushing-trump-to-accelerate-ai-documents-show/
https://progressive.org/latest/like-dad-charles-koch-bircher-new-documents/
With AI, the wealthy skip paying for hate-for-hire campaigns like Facebook, Tenet Media, or the Russian Internet Research Agency
https://www.democracynow.org/2014/7/8/kochs_anti_civil_rights_roots
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/who-sponsored-the-hate
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5326284-birchers-conspiracies-trump-legacy/
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/did-the-john-birch-society-win-in-the-end
@Npars01
Imagine having half a BILLION dollars to change the world, and choosing to bring this about! -
@dusk @cR0w @mttaggart @iampytest1
"โฆI don't know what we'll be able to say, so I don't want to over-promise anythingโฆ"
You say, 'We won't use AI to write our publication'
There's nothing else to say.
There's no promises to be made.Ars prides itself on technical accuracy. AI slop is a direct hit to their identity. The longer they wait to give a straight answer, the more it *appears* like they're trying to figure out how much they can get away with, instead of just being bluntly transparent.
@rusty__shackleford @dusk @cR0w @mttaggart @iampytest1
This is bad enough that a serious company that wanted to salvage their reputation properly might wanna consider putting in some weekend overtime.
But if they were being conscientious and diligent none of this would've happened in the first place. So of course instead it's, oops oh well I guess we'll deal with it sometime next week or something...
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@mttaggart
I don't know what is real anymore, holy shit.If I'm reading things correctly Ars hallucinated the quotes in the article but still linked to this blog post correctly, right?
https://theshamblog.com/an-ai-agent-published-a-hit-piece-on-me/
Yep, that's about the size of it!
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@theorangetheme @mttaggart oh, we very much don't, and I've even had editors insert mistakes into my stories before, without giving me readbacks. But this isn't the case of a single word or phrase, this is entire quotes being inserted. I don't buy into the idea that there is pressure on journos to use AI though โ the point of the profession is original work, which AI by definition cannot do.
@aliide @theorangetheme @mttaggart
You would think that your point about original work would apply to software engineering too (I think it does), but there seemingly are managers out there - or at least directors applying pressure - who want their engineers to use it. -
@tankgrrl @mttaggart I mean, I assume that's what an internal investigation was about?
They probably want to properly call the author and ask them if they used AI or not, what were their sources, etc.
I don't think it's fair to mock them for wanting to conclude an investigation.
