What's going on here?

@drsbaitso Was just about to post this, thank you.

@mttaggart Also, this is not a good situation. Ars has some serious explaining to do.

@mttaggart I happened to be reading in the comment section before the article got pulled.
Here is Aurich's last post saying the article was pulled and they're going to be investigating, but there probably won't be any answers until Monday and they'll update readers then.

@catsalad Slop on slop on slop. Literally.

@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.

@theotherbrook Someone else in these replies did!

@mttaggart wow they pulled the article down

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

@jalefkowit @mttaggart Big same. Decades now.

They need to respond fast or I'm out.

@j_s_j @mttaggart Aurich said in the comments that they are investigating, but probably won't have a response until Monday.

It had better be a good one

@theotherbrook @mttaggart I just have a text file.

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

@hackillu @mttaggart There's now a thread on the open forum.

EDIT: Oh, but it's been locked. I've bumped heads with Aurich about some stuff but I do trust him to be pretty open when they are ready to talk about it.

https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/journalistic-standards.1511650/

@mttaggart so, ars technica is now merely slop as well?

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/

@theotherbrook @mttaggart it still exists in their forum.

https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/after-a-routine-code-rejection-an-ai-agent-published-a-hit-piece-on-someone-by-name.1511649/

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/

@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.)

@theorangetheme I think the lock might be SOP for a pulled story. And mods tend not to like rampant speculation.

@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

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