{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-11-07T02:56:00.475Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"journalism","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"2024","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2024-wyoming-newspaper-reporter-resigned-after-editor-found-ai-generated-quotes-attributed-to-six-people-including-governor","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'came in a June 26 article about the comedian Larry the Cable Guy being chosen as the grand marshal of a local parade. It concluded with an explanation of the inverted pyramid'; 'This structure ensures that the most critical information is presented first, making it easier for readers to grasp the main points quickly.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'came in a 26 June article about the comedian Larry the Cable Guy being chosen as the grand marshal of the Cody Stampede parade.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"A 26 June 2024 Cody Enterprise story about the Cody Stampede parade's grand marshal ended with a sentence explaining the inverted-pyramid structure of a news story, which a Powell Tribune reporter took as a sign of generative AI.","causal_attribution":"The Powell Tribune reporter's reading of the text, relayed by the AP."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'the Enterprise discovered seven stories that included AI-generated quotes from six people'; 'but that they had never actually talked to'; 'One quote was entirely fabricated and another was partially fabricated'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'They have discovered seven stories that included AI-generated quotes from six people'; 'included a quote from the Governor that was entirely fabricated'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The Enterprise's editor says a review found seven of the reporter's stories carried AI-generated quotes from six people, and that people he spoke to in the review said they had never talked to the reporter; the governor's spokesperson says one quote attributed to the governor was entirely fabricated and another partly fabricated.","causal_attribution":"The newspaper's own review and the governor's office, relayed in one AP report; the review itself was not published."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'admitted that he had used AI in his stories before he resigned from the Enterprise'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'admitted that he had used AI in his stories.'; 'resigned from the paper.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"According to the Powell Tribune reporter, the Enterprise reporter admitted using AI in his stories, and he resigned.","causal_attribution":"The admission is the Powell Tribune reporter's account; the reporter did not respond to the AP."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'apologized that “AI was allowed to put words that were never spoken into stories.”'; 'The Enterprise didn’t have an AI policy'; 'the newspaper now has a system in place to recognize AI-generated stories'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The editor apologised that AI was allowed to put words that were never spoken into stories, said the paper had no AI policy and would adopt one; the publisher said the paper now has a system to recognise AI-generated stories.","causal_attribution":"The newspaper's own statements in editorials and to the AP."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Obviously I’ve never intentionally tried to misquote anybody'; 'did not respond to an AP phone message'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The reporter told the Powell Tribune he had never intentionally tried to misquote anybody and promised corrections and apologies; he did not respond to the AP.","causal_attribution":"His own words as quoted by the Powell Tribune reporter, recorded as counterevidence on intent."}],"effects":[{"label":"Reporter resigned after the AI-generated quotes were exposed","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"Quotes never spoken were printed under the names of six people, including the governor","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-reporter-resigns-journalism-ed076e2f276d9811f3b9ba051a03b7ae","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-11-01 through an Internet Archive capture (the live page returned HTTP 403). AP report by its Wyoming correspondent, quoting the Enterprise editor, the Powell Tribune reporter and the governor's spokesperson.","independence_group":"ap-2024-08-14"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/aug/14/wyoming-reporter-ai-cody-enterprise","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-11-01 (HTTP 200). The Guardian's version of the AP report; same reporting chain, not independent. It carries the governor's spokesperson's emailed statement in fuller form.","independence_group":"ap-2024-08-14"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["work"],"unknowns":["Which AI program the reporter used and what he asked it: no source names the tool or describes the prompts.","The exact date of the resignation: the AP reports only that he resigned before its 14 August 2024 report.","Whether the newspaper asked him to resign or he left on his own initiative.","Whether the six people given fabricated quotes suffered any consequence beyond the misattribution."],"geography":{"basis":"The newspaper and the stories are in Cody, Wyoming (AP). No residence is used.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published because the newspaper's editor says its review found AI-generated quotes from six people in seven of the reporter's stories, a published story carried generic AI-style text, the reporter reportedly admitted using AI, and he resigned. The AI tool is not identified and the admission is relayed by a competing reporter.","reviewed_on":"2026-11-01"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The Enterprise's editor told the AP that a review found seven of the reporter's stories carried AI-generated quotes from six people who had never spoken to him, and wrote that AI was allowed to put words that were never spoken into stories. The Powell Tribune reporter says the Enterprise reporter admitted using AI in his stories. One published story ended with a generic explanation of news-story structure. The reporter filed the AI-generated text and resigned after it was exposed. The AI program and his prompts are not identified.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Wyoming newspaper editor says a new reporter's stories carried AI-generated quotes from six people, including the governor; the reporter resigned","summary":"In summer 2024 a reporter who had joined the Cody Enterprise, a small newspaper in Cody, Wyoming, about two months earlier wrote stories with the help of generative AI. A reporter at the competing Powell Tribune noticed robotic phrasing and quotes that seemed off, including a 26 June story about a local parade that ended with an explanation of how to structure a news story. According to the Powell Tribune reporter, the Enterprise reporter admitted using AI in his stories, and he then resigned. The Enterprise's editor told the Associated Press that a review had found seven stories with AI-generated quotes from six people, and that people he spoke to in the review said they had never talked to the reporter. A spokesperson for Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon said one quote attributed to the governor was entirely fabricated and another partly fabricated. The editor and publisher apologised in editorials, and the editor said the paper would adopt an AI policy. The reporter did not respond to the AP. The AI tool used is not identified.","incidentDate":"2024-06-26","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2024-08-14","aiSystem":"Generative AI that the reporter used to help write news stories; the sources do not name the program","aiProduct":"Unidentified AI writing tool","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["professional_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to the Powell Tribune reporter, the Enterprise reporter admitted using AI in his stories and then resigned; the newspaper says AI-generated quotes were attributed to six people who never spoke to him.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the reporter who used generative AI and resigned (AP). The six people given AI-generated quotes are not counted because no consequence for them beyond the misattribution is reported; readers are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US","platformType":"assistant","outcomeType":"internal_action","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-reporter-resigns-journalism-ed076e2f276d9811f3b9ba051a03b7ae","primarySourceLabel":"AP News, 14 Aug 2024: Wyoming reporter caught using artificial intelligence to create fake quotes and stories","firstPublishedAt":"2026-11-01T03:04:56.183986+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-11-01T03:04:56.183986+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["work","journalism","resignation","fabricated-quotes","generative-ai"]}]}