@mttaggart

Seems like it very much was the consequence of writers using AI ..!

Edit: or potentially an editor, would be good if they specified which — and either way, it slipped through the editorial process.

https://arstechnica.com/staff/2026/02/editors-note-retraction-of-article-containing-fabricated-quotations

#tech #ai #technews #slop #journalism #media

@cyberlyra oooooh boy does this sound all too familiar. I hope the positives generally outweigh these negative aspects for you

@GerardThornley @theorangetheme @mttaggart yes! as well as the problems/biases inherent in the training material or in the ways that it's trained

@GerardThornley @theorangetheme @mttaggart

A bigger problem with AI and journalism is probably the volume of writers who have written about it who don't seem to understand that the fearmongering about it is part of the hype. Like the "AI could take over the world" spiel is definitely perpetuated by companies and individuals that want it venerated as some out-of-control force beyond human comprehension. It's just another side of the AI hype coin.

@GerardThornley @theorangetheme @mttaggart

I think the pressure on SWEs is *considerably* higher given the institutional pressure to make AI work! I'm sure many engineers want to write original code too, though.

@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 — the point of the profession is original work, which AI by definition cannot do.

@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.

@_L1vY_ @alice (is 2019 still "a few years ago?)

@_L1vY_ @alice

There was a good NYT article about this a few years ago

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/10/opinion/sunday/feminism-lean-in.html

While Mandelson and Andrew are important stories in the UK, I feel like most UK media are currently missing the big picture. Which is that the Epstein-Thiel-Bannon-Russia network, has been conspiring to destroy western democratic institutions. Andrew and Mandleson are disgusting cogs in that bigger machine. I've seen very few headlines mentioning Thiel directly over here.

#epstein #epsteinfiles #andrew #princeandrew #mandelson #labour #petermandelson #thiel #peterthiel #bannon #brexit #news

"A new form of money, on a world wide basis" is especially interesting: Russia was pushing cryptocurrency hard in the 2010s, and there are Russian figures behind some key crypto projects in the west.

And of course crypto is an extremely useful tool for Russia in the context of sanctions.

#Epstein #Epsteinfiles #trump #sanctions #russia #crypto #cryptocurrency #russiaukrainewar #ukrainewar #jeffreyepstein #putin #finance #news #bitcoin #ethereum #norway

People have become far too used to Ukrainians dying.

#Ukraine #russia #russiaUkrainewar #Ukrainewar #genocide #invasion #imperialism #news #war