Baldur BjarnasonMar 3

"Ars Technica Fires Reporter After AI Controversy Involving Fabricated Quotes"

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ars-technica-fires-reporter-ai-quotes

Seeing a lot of people assume that this reporter got fired for making one mistake during a sick day, something most people could see themselves doing

I think it's safe to assume that the reporter's version of events downplayed his culpability to a substantial degree

Ars Technica Fires Reporter After AI Controversy Involving Fabricated Quotes

Ars Technica has fired senior AI reporter Benj Edwards following an outrage-sparking controversy involving AI-fabricated quotes.

Futurism
Show threadBaldur BjarnasonMar 3
You also need to consider that the reporter in question is one of the more credulous pro-"AI" reporters around and whose coverage has been so PR-laden in the past that I know people who stopped reading Ars Technica specifically because of him (and maybe their super pro-Musk rocketry reporter).
Show threadCory BirdsongMar 3
@baldur I have to wonder if this is part of the equation (I hope it was!)
Show threadBaldur BjarnasonMar 3
@cbirdsong My guess would be that a very pro-"AI" reporter might have used LLM tools more than he let on to his readers or his employer.
Show threadMonokerosMar 3
@baldur @cbirdsong He *did* let on. Check out the interview linked somewhere in that Ars thread. He used/uses AI tools routinely to compensate for long covid. This was inevitable.
Show threadCory BirdsongMar 3
@monokeros got a link handy? That thread is 47 pages long
Show threadMonokeros

@cbirdsong Found it:
https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/editor%E2%80%99s-note-retraction-of-article-containing-fabricated-quotations.1511671/post-44253310

So Ars had actual knowledge of his AI use in reporting and continued to use it, no matter what they say their policy says.

Editor’s Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations

We are reinforcing our editorial standards following this incident. See full article...

Ars OpenForum
Mar 4 at 12:48amWeb