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Incident 764: Cody Enterprise Reporter Resigns After Admitting to AI-Generated Fake Quotes

Responded
Description: A reporter at the Cody Enterprise used AI to generate fake quotes and stories, including fabricating statements from Wyoming’s governor and other officials. The misuse of AI was uncovered when another journalist noticed robotic phrases and false information in the articles. The reporter resigned, and the newspaper is now implementing policies to prevent future incidents.

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Entities

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Alleged: Unnamed AI chatbot developed an AI system deployed by Aaron Pelczar, which harmed Mark Gordon , Wyoming officials , Cody Enterprise , Cody Enterprise readers and Journalism.

Incident Stats

Incident ID
764
Report Count
4
Incident Date
2024-06-26
Editors
Daniel Atherton
Applied Taxonomies
MIT

MIT Taxonomy Classifications

Machine-Classified
Taxonomy Details

Risk Subdomain

A further 23 subdomains create an accessible and understandable classification of hazards and harms associated with AI
 

3.1. False or misleading information

Risk Domain

The Domain Taxonomy of AI Risks classifies risks into seven AI risk domains: (1) Discrimination & toxicity, (2) Privacy & security, (3) Misinformation, (4) Malicious actors & misuse, (5) Human-computer interaction, (6) Socioeconomic & environmental harms, and (7) AI system safety, failures & limitations.
 
  1. Misinformation

Entity

Which, if any, entity is presented as the main cause of the risk
 

Human

Timing

The stage in the AI lifecycle at which the risk is presented as occurring
 

Post-deployment

Intent

Whether the risk is presented as occurring as an expected or unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
 

Intentional

Incident Reports

Reports Timeline

Incident Occurrence+2
Wyoming reporter caught using artificial intelligence to create fake quotes and stories
Wyoming reporter resigned after admitting to using AI to write articles, generate quotes - Response
Wyoming reporter caught using artificial intelligence to create fake quotes and stories

Wyoming reporter caught using artificial intelligence to create fake quotes and stories

apnews.com

Wyoming Reporter Resigns After Using A.I. to Fabricate Quotes

Wyoming Reporter Resigns After Using A.I. to Fabricate Quotes

nytimes.com

Reporter admits using artificial intelligence to create fake quotes and stories before resigning, editor says

Reporter admits using artificial intelligence to create fake quotes and stories before resigning, editor says

cbsnews.com

Wyoming reporter resigned after admitting to using AI to write articles, generate quotes

Wyoming reporter resigned after admitting to using AI to write articles, generate quotes

usatoday.com

Wyoming reporter caught using artificial intelligence to create fake quotes and stories
apnews.com · 2024

Quotes from Wyoming's governor and a local prosecutor were the first things that seemed slightly off to Powell Tribune reporter CJ Baker. Then, it was some of the phrases in the stories that struck him as nearly robotic.

The dead giveaway, …

Wyoming Reporter Resigns After Using A.I. to Fabricate Quotes
nytimes.com · 2024

A novice reporter for the Cody Enterprise in Wyoming resigned this month after he was caught using generative artificial intelligence to help write his stories, resulting in numerous fabricated quotes, according to editors at the paper and …

Reporter admits using artificial intelligence to create fake quotes and stories before resigning, editor says
cbsnews.com · 2024

A quote from Wyoming's governor and a local prosecutor were the first things that seemed slightly off to Powell Tribune reporter CJ Baker. Then, it was some of the phrases in the stories that struck him as nearly robotic.

The dead giveaway,…

Wyoming reporter resigned after admitting to using AI to write articles, generate quotes
usatoday.com · 2024
Jonathan Limehouse post-incident response

A reporter recently resigned from a Wyoming newspaper after admitting to using artificial intelligence to generate quotes and assist in writing stories, thus causing several fabricated articles and a public apology from the individual's edi…

Variants

A "variant" is an incident that shares the same causative factors, produces similar harms, and involves the same intelligent systems as a known AI incident. Rather than index variants as entirely separate incidents, we list variations of incidents under the first similar incident submitted to the database. Unlike other submission types to the incident database, variants are not required to have reporting in evidence external to the Incident Database. Learn more from the research paper.

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