{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-29T07:31:05.244Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"workplace-ai-tool","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"2025","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":"2025-madison-newspaper-reporter-fired-after-story-ran-with-ai-invented-quotes-she-says-company-installed-copilot-added","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'contained incorrect information and quotes that were created by an unauthorized use of AI'; 'Staff re-reported the story, which is below.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'A story about development plans for a vacant downtown block that appeared on the front page of the Sunday, July 13, issue of the Wisconsin State Journal was removed Wednesday'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The newspaper removed the 13 July 2025 story and published a re-reported version with an editor's note saying the original contained incorrect information and quotes created by an unauthorized use of AI.","causal_attribution":"Established by the editor's note itself."},{"id":"c2","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'No such business exists on East Main Street or anywhere in Madison.'; 'Neither of those features, nor the name “The Grove,” appear in Neutral’s proposal'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'quoted a fictitious business owner'; 'included made-up information about the proposal submitted by Neutral'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The original story quoted the co-owner of a cafe that does not exist and described proposal features that the developer said were wrong.","causal_attribution":"Isthmus's own checks and the reporter's later account are separate origins."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'ran it through the company-installed AI program on her work computer'; 'Microsoft Copilot, an AI program, was installed on her work laptop'; 'included made-up information about the proposal submitted by Neutral'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The reporter says she ran her finished draft through the company-installed AI program on her work computer, which she identifies as Microsoft Copilot, and that the AI-edited version contained the fictitious quote and made-up proposal details.","causal_attribution":"Her own account; she cannot recall the prompt, and the newspaper has not named the tool."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'she was fired the same day by executive editor'; 'She says she was terminated without a formal investigation and was not given a chance to explain herself'; 'We do not comment on personnel matters'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'is no longer with Lee Enterprises'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"She says she was fired the same day the re-reported story ran, without a formal investigation; the newspaper declines to comment on personnel matters.","causal_attribution":"Her account of the dismissal; Isthmus's July report records only that she was no longer with the company."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'She lost her health insurance when she lost her job.'; 'but so far has had little luck'; 'discharge was not for misconduct or substantial fault connected to her employment. The employee was discharged due to performance.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"She says she lost her health insurance and has had little luck finding another job; a state workforce agency letter found her discharge was due to performance, not misconduct.","causal_attribution":"Her account and a letter quoted by Isthmus; the letter itself was not inspected."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'takes full responsibility for the story’s “multiple factual inaccuracies,” including a made-up source, which she attributes to the use of a company-installed AI program on her work computer'; 'She says she was never presented with a written AI policy'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"She takes full responsibility for the inaccuracies, says she believed the program was approved for checking copy, and says she was never given a written AI policy.","causal_attribution":"Her own account, including her acceptance of responsibility, recorded as context and counterevidence."}],"effects":[{"label":"Reporter dismissed after the AI-altered story was retracted","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"},{"label":"Reporter reports loss of health insurance and difficulty finding another job","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://madison.com/news/local/business/development/article_61f06670-87fa-4847-960a-32a84db8a99a.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-29 through an Internet Archive capture (the live page returned HTTP 429). The newspaper's re-reported story carrying its editor's note.","independence_group":"wisconsin-state-journal-2025-07-17"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://isthmus.com/news/news/wisconsin-state-journal-re-reports-brayton-lot-story/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-29 (HTTP 200). Isthmus checked the original story against the submitted proposals and searched for the quoted business.","independence_group":"isthmus-2025-07-17"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://isthmus.com/news/news/wisconsin-state-journal-reporter-fired-for-ai-misuse-speaks-out/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-29 (HTTP 200). Interview with the dismissed reporter and her public statement; the paper's editor declined to comment.","independence_group":"isthmus-reporter-interview-2025-09-08"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["work"],"unknowns":["The prompt the reporter gave the AI program and the program's exact output: she does not recall the prompt and kept no screenshot.","Whether the newspaper identified the tool or reviewed the reporter's AI use before dismissing her: it declined to comment on personnel matters.","Whether all the errors in the first draft came from the AI program: Isthmus notes questions about the draft that are not necessarily tied to AI."],"geography":{"basis":"The newspaper, its newsroom and the story are in Madison, Wisconsin (Isthmus, Wisconsin State Journal). Her own residence is not used.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published because the newspaper's own note attributes invented quotes in a retracted story to AI use, the reporter says the company-installed AI program added them to her draft, Isthmus independently confirmed the quoted business does not exist, and the reporter was dismissed. The tool's identity and her account of the dismissal are hers; she accepts responsibility for the errors.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-29"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The newspaper's editor's note says the retracted story contained incorrect information and quotes created by an unauthorized use of AI. The reporter says she ran her finished draft through the AI program installed on her work computer, which she identifies as Microsoft Copilot, and that the AI-edited version quoted a fictitious business owner and contained made-up information about a proposal. Isthmus independently found that the quoted cafe does not exist and the developer said the described features were wrong. The AI output she relied on was published and the paper then dismissed her. The prompt she used is not known.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Madison newspaper reporter fired after story ran with invented quotes the paper blamed on unauthorized AI use; she says company-installed Copilot added them","summary":"On 13 July 2025 the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison, Wisconsin, published on its front page a reporter's story about redevelopment proposals for a downtown block. It quoted the co-owner of a cafe that does not exist and described proposal features that the developer says were not in its proposal. The paper removed the story and on 17 July published a re-reported version with an editor's note saying the original contained incorrect information and quotes created by an unauthorized use of AI. The reporter, who had been with the paper for a couple of months, told Isthmus that she ran her finished draft through the AI program the company had installed on her work computer, Microsoft Copilot, which she believed was approved for checking copy, and that the AI-edited version contained the invented quote. She says she was fired by phone the day the re-reported story ran, without a formal investigation, and later lost her health insurance and has had little luck finding another job. She takes full responsibility for the errors and also points to rushed editing and the absence of an AI policy or training. The paper said it does not comment on personnel matters.","incidentDate":"2025-07-17","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2025-07-17","aiSystem":"An AI program installed by the newspaper's owner on the reporter's work computer, identified by the reporter as Microsoft Copilot; the newspaper's note says only that the content was created by an unauthorized use of AI","aiProduct":"Microsoft Copilot (reported)","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["professional_harm","financial_loss","reputational_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The reporter lost her job after a story carrying AI-invented quotes was retracted, and says she then lost her health insurance and has had little luck finding another job.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the reporter who used the AI program and was dismissed (Isthmus interview; the paper's note and staff auto-reply). Readers and the developer whose proposal was misdescribed are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US","platformType":"assistant","outcomeType":"internal_action","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://madison.com/news/local/business/development/article_61f06670-87fa-4847-960a-32a84db8a99a.html","primarySourceLabel":"Wisconsin State Journal, 17 Jul 2025: 3 developers submit proposals for Madison's Brayton Lot (with editor's note)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-29T03:13:01.752631+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-29T03:13:01.752631+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["work","journalism","dismissal","fabricated-quotes","workplace-ai-tool","retraction"]}]}