What's going on here?

@hackillu @mttaggart You got the comments online anywhere? I am dying to see them.

@theotherbrook @mttaggart I just have a text file.

@theotherbrook @mttaggart the site wouldn't download, so i did copy paste

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.

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/02/after-a-routine-code-rejection-an-ai-agent-published-a-hit-piece-on-someone-by-name

This scoop brought to you by the TTI Intel Feed, which also routinely beats commercial threat intel to the punch on important emerging threats.

https://intel.taggartinstitute.org/

@mttaggart Oh, I wish you'd gotten the comments too. I can only imagine what some familiar handles would have had to say in them.

Putting this here so all can see it. Ars forum thread where the pull and investigation are mentioned: https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/journalistic-standards.1511650/

Putting this here so all can see it. Ars forum thread where the pull and investigation are mentioned: https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/journalistic-standards.1511650/

@mttaggart Locking the comments seems pretty... bad? I mean, one of their authors generated slop, and one of their editors approved slop. Is it more complicated or...? (I'm being a little flippant, but this is a terrible look for Ars already.)

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.

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/02/after-a-routine-code-rejection-an-ai-agent-published-a-hit-piece-on-someone-by-name

@mttaggart

AI isn't intended to be accurate, useful, or productive.

It's just automated information pollution like Steve Bannon's version of Russian "flood the zone with sh*t" disinformation.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/12/jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump-russia-emails-00648919

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article312917423.html

https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/in-putins-orbit-the-crypto-politics

Look at the investors behind AI.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE
They don't have to fly planes into buildings anymore to destroy democracy & fry the planet.

https://breakingdefense.com/2026/02/future-of-military-ai-in-saudi-arabia-ai-enhanced-or-ai-native/

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/technology/saudi-arabia-ai-exporter.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-06/saudis-plan-100-billion-ai-powerhouse-to-rival-uae-s-tech-hub

1/

@aud very rude of him to fall off so strongly immediately after I defended his work to you

@mttaggart i expect better from kyle; i do not trust benj edwards at all. between him and eric berger doing free pr for elon musk ars is in a sorry state right now

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/

https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/putin-wanted-ai-supremacy-now-russia-is-struggling-to-stay-in-the-race-0e0deeb6

https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/how-technophobe-putin-led-russia-to-surrender-in-the-ai-arms-race-xk6hrn96l

@catsalad Slop on slop on slop. Literally.

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.

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/02/after-a-routine-code-rejection-an-ai-agent-published-a-hit-piece-on-someone-by-name

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.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdurot/2025/07/17/bill-gates-charles-koch-and-three-other-billionaires-are-giving-1-billion-to-enhance-economic-mobility-in-the-us/

https://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.motherjones.com/politics/2017/09/top-facebook-exec-sheryl-sandberg-just-apologized-for-racist-ad-targeting/

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

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.

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/02/after-a-routine-code-rejection-an-ai-agent-published-a-hit-piece-on-someone-by-name

4/

https://arlenegoldbard-1818.medium.com/flood-the-zone-25e592e1fc39

https://www.vice.com/en/article/steve-bannon-jan-6-trial-arguments/

https://www.wral.com/this-infamous-steve-bannon-quote-is-key-to-understanding-americas-crazy-politics/19984533/

https://www.persuasion.community/p/trumps-firehose-of-falsehood

Pam Bondi's performance in congressional hearings was an excellent example of Russian-style media manipulation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firehose_of_falsehood

Firehosing & automation
https://mediamanipulation.org/definitions/distributed-amplification/

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/6/391

@bnys @mttaggart Yep, when you add the Transphobic pieces a few year back and Aurich moderation that tends to let the polite fascist slide while banning people calling out fascist, they lost my sub, which Siracusa had earned them.