Business Insider magazine was forced to delete previously published articles after it was discovered that they were entirely written using artificial intelligence, just three months after the magazine, owned by publishing house Axel Springer, announced plans to lay off about a third of its staff amid increasing reliance on AI technologies.

The issue was not limited to Business Insider; it also affected Wired magazine, specialized in technology, and the website of the organization Index on Censorship, which focuses on freedom of expression. They had to remove articles written by freelance writer Marago Blanchard after discovering blatant fabrications including fake city and company names that were not verified before publication.

Investigations revealed that some articles contained fabricated reports about people marrying through online gaming platforms like Minecraft and Roblox, as well as a fictitious story about a mining town in Colorado. This led Wired magazine to officially apologize for being deceived by AI fraud, considering that this deception misled them despite their editorial capabilities.

Business Insider published two articles by Blanchard last April before announcing the layoff of 21% of its staff. The first article was titled “Remote work was the best thing for me as a parent, but the worst for me as a person,” while the second was titled “I had my first child at 45. I am financially stable and have years of life experience to guide me.” Both were later deleted with a message clarifying that the articles did not meet publication standards.

This event serves as an important warning for newsrooms seeking to reduce costs and increase productivity using AI, especially with statistics indicating that about half of journalists worldwide now rely on AI in content production, reaffirming the importance of thorough verification and review before publishing to ensure news credibility.