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Editor's Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations

arstechnica.com

211–220 of 223 posts

Re: Editor's Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations

#211
post #162
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bigger problem is that he felt the need to work while ill in bed, with very little sleep and sick with fever. Makes me wonder about Ars Technica's company culture.

I agree that the work culture promoting this is bad, but being sick is still simply not an excuse to fabricate quotes with AI. It's still just journalistic malfeasance, and if Ars actually cares about the quality of their journalism, he should be fired for it.

> (...) he should be fired for it.

I don't know about that - I'd say it's the managers responsibility to make sure employees don't feel pressured to work when they're to ill to function.

And also brings to mind the IBM one million dollars story:

(...)

A very large government bid, approaching a million dollars, was on the table. The IBM Corporation—no, Thomas J. Watson Sr.—needed every deal. Unfortunately, the salesman failed. IBM lost the bid. That day, the sales rep showed up at Mr. Watson’s office. He sat down and rested an envelope with his resignation on the CEO’s desk. Without looking, Mr. Watson knew what it was. He was expecting it.

He asked, “What happened?”

The sales rep outlined every step of the deal. He highlighted where mistakes had been made and what he could have done differently. Finally he said, “Thank you, Mr. Watson, for giving me a chance to explain. I know we needed this deal. I know what it meant to us.” He rose to leave.

Tom Watson met him at the door, looked him in the eye and handed the envelope back to him saying, “Why would I accept this when I have just invested one million dollars in your education?”

Re: Editor's Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's not some junior developer with his first job, he's the senior editor. If a senior editor plagiarized an article, he would rightly be fired because it's a serious violation of journalistic ethics. He knew using AI tools like that was against company policy and he did it anyway. That's well beyond just making a mistake.

There are degrees of plagiarism and you could argue this is not really plagiarism at all. Paraphrasing instead of directly quoting is probably about as mild as it can get. Most publications wouldn’t even note the mistake.

This wasn't paraphrasing either. The tool couldn't access the subject's website and instead fabricated quotes, which Benj nor anyone in the editorial process bothered to vet.

Re: Editor's Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the apology for the mistake is fine but it is expected journalistic practice to hand an article to a fact checker before it goes out who will quite literally make sure names, dates, quotes and so on are authentic. I thought of Ars Technica as a pretty decent publication, now I am wondering if they actually check what they publish.

The New Yorker famously has separate fact checkers, but I'm not sure how many other news organizations do?

Ah, the New Yorker. That's a Condé Nast publication too, just like Ars. There have been any labor incidents involving fact checkers and Condé Nast at the New Yorker recently: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/11/21/conde-nas...

Re: Editor's Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations

#214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In mainstream journalism wasn't the practice to have a junior position research and confirm quotes, dates, proper names, etc?

Those are exactly the types of jobs that have been disappearing for years (not because of AI, but because of Internet). Same with editors. I regularly see embarrassing typos in major publications.

Is anyone actually embarrassed by typos these days? It doesn't seem so judging by the quantity of them.

Re: Editor's Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations

#215
post #211
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that the work culture promoting this is bad, but being sick is still simply not an excuse to fabricate quotes with AI. It's still just journalistic malfeasance, and if Ars actually cares about the quality of their journalism, he should be fired for it.

> (...) he should be fired for it. I don't know about that - I'd say it's the managers responsibility to make sure employees don't feel pressured to work when they're to ill to function. And also brings to mind the IBM one million dollars story: (...) A very large government bid, approaching a million dollars, was on the table. The IBM Corporation—no, Thomas J. Watson Sr.—needed every deal. Unfortunately, the salesma…

Did it happen? I'd like to believe it but it's a lot of money even now and in Thomas Watson's time it was worth a great deal more.

Re: Editor's Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations

#216
post #197
post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Took me a while to find, here's one of the authors Benj Edwards with a statement on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/benjedwards.com/post/3mewgow6ch22p

looking at the statement, I find it weird that Benj Edwards is trying very hard to remove the blame from Kyle Orland, Even if he is not directly responsible.

Not weird. Taking blame on himself rather than the junior reporter was the most -- the only? -- professional thing about this whole snafu.

Re: Editor's Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations

#217

Former technology journalist here. If you want to experiment with reported news using untested tools that have known quality problems, do it in a strictly controlled environment where the output can be carefully vetted. Senior editor(s) need to be in the loop. Start with something easier, not controversial or high-profile articles. One other thing. If the author cut corners because he's too sick to write, but did so…

>>he thought his job would be in jeopardy if he didn't publish

Where'd you get this from? The author's response on Bluesky doesn't imply this at all.

Re: Editor's Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are exactly the types of jobs that have been disappearing for years (not because of AI, but because of Internet). Same with editors. I regularly see embarrassing typos in major publications.

Is anyone actually embarrassed by typos these days? It doesn't seem so judging by the quantity of them.

It is a very visible indicator of the quality of the whole. If the spelling is frequently not correct, which a reader can detect relatively easily, how many more mistakes are hidden in the content, which a reader can not detect easily? Are these completely independent variables? I do not think so. Therefore, I also assess the reliability of an article based on the frequency of careless mistakes.

What is an even larger warning sign, are cliches used to spice up an article. Ars Technica is hardly to blame here, but the Smithsonian magazine is full of it.

Re: Editor's Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is anyone actually embarrassed by typos these days? It doesn't seem so judging by the quantity of them.

It is a very visible indicator of the quality of the whole. If the spelling is frequently not correct, which a reader can detect relatively easily, how many more mistakes are hidden in the content, which a reader can not detect easily? Are these completely independent variables? I do not think so. Therefore, I also assess the reliability of an article based on the frequency of careless mistakes. What is an even large…

My mother[0] was a scientific editor, and she was brutal. She was a stickler for proper English, as well as content accuracy.

She once edited a book I wrote. It was humbling as hell, but it may be the only "perfect" thing that I've ever done (but it did not age well, and has since gone the way of the Dodo).

[0] https://cmarshall.com/miscellaneous/SheilaMarshall.htm

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