Irish Newspaper Admits One Of Its Most-Read Articles Was An AI Hoax, Apologises

An Irish newspaper has apologised to its readers after an opinion article on its website was found to be a hoax created partially using artificial intelligence, Guardian reported. Notably, the Irish Times published an online opinion piece last week, with the headline ''Irish women's obsession with fake tan is problematic.''

The name of the author was given as Adriana Acosta-Cortez, a 29-year-old Ecuadorian health worker who lived in north Dublin. In the article, the author discussed the widespread use of fake tan in Ireland, suggesting it was a form of cultural appropriation and offensive to people of colour.

The piece was the paper's second-most-read article and prompted debate on radio and social media, as per the Independent. Several social media users also questioned whether the photo and the name of the writer were those of a real person. Many suggested that the byline picture of a blue-haired Latin American woman had been created by artificial intelligence. 

The same day, the article was removed and has now been taken down from the website permanently.

Later, the paper released a statement and explained the situation to its readers. Editor Ruadhan Mac Cormaic said they had fallen victim to ''a deliberate and coordinated deception'' and admitted they were duped by the author.

''It now appears that the article and the accompanying byline photo may have been produced, at least in part, using generative AI technology,'' editor Ruadhan Mac Cormaic said.

''Less than 24 hours after publication on our digital platforms, The Irish Times became aware that the column may not have been genuine. That prompted us to remove it from the site and initiate a review, which is ongoing. It now appears that the article and the accompanying byline photo may have been produced, at least in part, using generative AI technology. It was a hoax; the person we were corresponding with was not who they claimed to be. We had fallen victim to a deliberate and coordinated deception.

It was a breach of the trust between The Irish Times and its readers, and we are genuinely sorry. The incident has highlighted a gap in our pre-publication procedures. We need to make them more robust - and we will. It has also underlined one of the challenges raised by generative AI for news organisations. We, like others, will learn and adapt,'' he said in a statement.

The Guardian article said that the person used GPT-4 to create about 80 per cent of the article and the image generator Dallas- E2 to create a profile picture of a ''woke'' journalist.