• by Ray Schultz , August 14, 2024

A Wyoming newspaper has been caught using AI-generated false quotes. 

The Cody Enterprise, a paper founded in 1899 by Buffalo Bill Cody, ran fake quotes from Governor Mark Gordon and other officials, according to AP. 

This account blamed Aaron Pelczar, a fledgling reporter, who has since resigned, AP reports. But Enterprise Editor Chris Bacon has accepted responsibility 

“I did not charge the mound or commit the falsehood, but I failed to catch it,” Bacon writes in an editorial. “And it is my job, dear reader, to see that the facts in your paper are facts.

“It matters not that the false quotes were the apparent error of a hurried rookie reporter that trusted AI. It was my job,” Bacon said.

Admitting that he is eating crow, Bacon apologized and added that “AI was allowed to put words that were never spoken into stories. I apologize to the Governor, the astronomers, our Public Works Director, Warden Crane and any other that I have not yet been able to confirm as misquoted.”