In partnership with
MediaMorph Edition 112 - by Mark Riley
Schoolboy errors
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here
The written-by-a-human bit
I don’t believe there is such a thing as bad dogs, just bad owners. And so it is with AI - no such thing as bad AI, just careless users.
So if you are after a large dose of summer Schadenfreude, Press Gazette has helpfully updated their list of AI journalism bloopers.
Some are trivial (leaving the follow-up prompt in the text), some are humorous (AI reporters being tripped up by AI), and some are career-ending (attributing false AI-manufactured quotes to a real person).
The dirty secret, of course, is that everyone (almost everyone) is using AI for research and first drafts. The sin is being caught due to sloppy practice and schoolboy errors. Aggressively using Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V on large swaths of text from ChatGPT is asking for trouble. It may well come with a direct charge of plagiarism. Ask Alex Preston, whose book review in The New York Times came with an uncanny resemblance to the Guardian’s.
“I made a serious mistake in using an AI tool on a draft review I had written, and I failed to identify and remove overlapping language from another review that the AI dropped in,” Preston said in his apology to the Guardian.
I am not convinced that AI checkers are as reliable as they once were, despite some staggering revenue numbers. But I do trust human intuition that can detect when personality has been eroded by prompted, sloppy AI swill.
David Brooks makes a similar point in his essay in this week’s Atlantic: writing is one of the no-go areas.
The only fail-safe solution is to write (or dictate) from the heart, line by line, thought by thought. We might soon find that quaint, or old-fashioned, but I didn’t call this section the “written-by-a-human bit” for nothing.
In other news, we have a bunch of new models released this month (AI doesn’t take vacations). Grok 4.5, Cognition's SWE 1.7, GPT-5.6 Sol, and Meta's Muse Spark 1.1 have all challenged the top of the leaderboards. But GPT Live 1 was the most “sci-fi” experience I have had so far.
The intonation, interruptions, pauses and latency are all very uncanny valley, and all fully hooked up to the web and your folders. The launch video (tweet) was also a rare communications win for OpenAI with the ladies chatting away.
The voice AI genie is well and truly out of the bottle.
Mark Riley, CEO Mathison AI
AI and Journalism
This week’s best articles, as chosen by HANA and our editors
A View from the Field: Fighting AI & Strengthening Journalism Free Press - July 8, 2026 Free Press staffers actively advocated for a just media system through various events, including webinars and conferences that addressed critical issues like local journalism support, media mergers, and AI governance. Notable activities included Vanessa Maria Graber receiving an award for her activism and Nora Livier leading discussions on surveillance and AI's impact on communities. |
How Labor Journalists Contend With a Constricted and Polarized Media Landscape The consolidation of American media, the rise of AI, and the emergence of authoritarian ideologies are creating a troubling global landscape marked by homogenized narratives, ethical concerns over surveillance, and threats to democracy and civil liberties. These interconnected issues foster a climate of fear and disempowerment among individuals. |
Meta's AI support leaves deplatformed journalists talking to a machine — and no one else LatAm Journalism Review by the Knight Center - July 7, 2026 Small news outlets in Brazil, like Gazeta de Vargem Grande, are battling account suspensions by Meta, which hinder their community engagement and lead to legal disputes. This issue highlights the struggles of journalists facing automated systems that fail to address wrongful suspensions, resulting in reputational and financial losses. |
Exposure to Risk: Freelance photographers vs. the Wall Street Journal. Cjr - Freelance photographers are rallying against a new Wall Street Journal contract that permits the use of their images for AI training without consent or compensation, raising concerns about copyright infringement and the potential devaluation of their work. This backlash underscores the pressing need for clearer protections for creative rights in an era increasingly influenced by AI technology. |
The future of science journalism: AI, trust and democracy Europa - The 2026 European Science-Media Hub Summer School highlighted the transformative impact of AI on journalism, emphasizing the need for responsible integration to enhance public trust and informed engagement amid rising concerns about misinformation. Policymakers, journalists, and researchers convened to discuss how science journalism can navigate these complexities and support democratic discourse. |
Doctors are embracing AI, with reservations Association of Health Care Journalists - July 6, 2026 The expansion of electronic health records has led physicians to increasingly rely on artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline administrative tasks and enhance patient care, despite ongoing concerns about ethics and data privacy. The American Medical Association is actively guiding the ethical use of AI in healthcare, recognizing its potential to assist both doctors and patients, as illustrated by a recent experience where AI helped a pet owner seek veterinary advice. |
ABC will trial using AI for journalism. What are the risks and benefits? ETHRWorld.com - July 7, 2026 The ABC is partnering with Anthropic to integrate generative AI into its news production, aiming to enhance efficiency while addressing growing concerns about the quality and trustworthiness of AI-generated content in journalism. As the industry navigates these innovations, maintaining ethical standards and public trust remains a critical challenge for news organizations. |
OPEN CALL: Fifth Cyber Investigations Training Course – Digital Threats in the Age of AI Gijn - Digital threats, from disinformation campaigns to malware and cyberattacks, are reshaping our daily lives and challenging trust in institutions. It's crucial for individuals and businesses to adopt proactive cybersecurity measures and stay educated to navigate this evolving landscape effectively. |
AI in journalism: Live tracker of scandals and mistakes The integration of AI in journalism has led to significant mishaps, with outlets like the Mississippi Free Press and the New York Times facing backlash for publishing inaccurate AI-generated content. These incidents underscore the critical need for rigorous fact-checking and accountability as newsrooms navigate the evolving landscape of technology. |
Speed still matters in news, but the prize is no longer the click In the AI landscape, establishing authority through accurate and thoughtful analysis is far more beneficial than rushing to share information. Prioritizing quality content fosters trust and credibility, ultimately enriching discussions and building a loyal audience. |
You've seen the AI demos. Viktor does it without you watching.
The AI tool you tried last quarter waited for a prompt, hallucinated a number, then asked if you'd like a summary.
Viktor opened a PR at 2am, rebased it against main, ran your test suite, and posted a note in #eng: "Two flaky tests in payments service, both pre-existing. Recommended merging after fixing them." Then drafted the customer reply for the support ticket the bug created.
That's 619K autonomous actions per day across 20,000+ teams. Not chat replies. Real work shipped to GitHub, Stripe, Linear, Notion, and 3,000+ other tools, from inside Slack and Microsoft Teams.
You don't supervise him any more than you supervise a senior engineer.
SOC 2 certified. Your data never trains models.
"It's what you probably originally thought AI was going to be when you first heard of it in sci-fi movies." Tyler, CEO.
AI and Academic Publishing
This week’s best articles, as chosen by HANA and our editors
AI detection risks undermining academic integrity Nature - July 13, 2026 In 2024, students at the Australian Catholic University faced wrongful accusations of submitting AI-generated papers, prompting a lengthy process to prove their innocence. Meanwhile, the academic publishing industry is navigating the complexities of AI in writing, with debates over detection technologies and content thresholds raising concerns about fairness and transparency in manuscript acceptance. |
The Ministry’s “Great Purge” of Science: Can AI Help? A new ranking system for academic journals organizes them into clusters based on related fields, offering a more nuanced assessment of their impact and quality. This innovative approach aims to enhance transparency and facilitate better decision-making for researchers and institutions in the academic landscape. |
In the AI era, the human struggle can no longer be the point of research Times Higher Education (THE) - July 13, 2026 The integration of AI in academic research is reshaping scholarly practices, prompting debates about quality and relevance amidst concerns of diluting intellectual rigor. As institutions grapple with the balance between traditional methods and AI's efficiency, a push for meaningful contributions over mere output becomes essential, reflecting the evolving landscape of knowledge production. |
A Trap for AI Use in Peer Reviews Sparks Controversy The Scientist - July 6, 2026 The NeurIPS conference faces criticism for embedding hidden prompts in submitted papers to catch peer reviewers misusing generative AI, raising concerns about undermining trust in the review process. While some, like Sören Auer, argue this tactic fosters suspicion among reviewers, others, including Nihar Shah, defend it as an effective means of identifying misuse, citing its success at ICML 2026. |
AI Slop Is a Tenure Problem (opinion) Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs - July 13, 2026 As early-career scholars face pressure to publish for tenure, the rise of AI tools for generating scholarly papers poses a dilemma between efficiency and quality, leading to concerns about the integrity of academic research. This crisis highlights systemic issues in the academic landscape, where metrics often prioritize quantity over impactful work, prompting calls for a reevaluation of incentive structures that shape scholarly practices. |
Fake Citations: How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Scientific Publications A recent study uncovered 4,046 instances of fabricated references in 2,810 scholarly articles, raising serious concerns about the integrity of academic publishing. This alarming trend underscores the urgent need for stricter peer review processes and heightened accountability among researchers to preserve the credibility of scientific literature. |
Broken citation or academic misconduct? How to spot the difference THE Campus Learn, Share, Connect - July 8, 2026 In the age of generative AI, citation discrepancies can arise from various sources, leading to confusion about their origins. To maintain academic integrity, it’s crucial to verify citations through credible databases, check details against official records, and assess relevance to prevent the spread of misinformation. |
This newsletter was partly curated and summarised by AI agents, who can make mistakes. Check all important information. For any issues or inaccuracies, please notify us here
View our AI Ethics Policy
