Wyoming Reporter Resigns After Using A.I. to Fabricate Quotes

A novice reporter for the Cody Enterprise in Wyoming resigned this month after he was caught using generative artificial intelligence to help write his stories, resulting in numerous fabricated quotes, according to editors at the paper and published reports.

Aaron Pelczar left the newspaper on Aug. 2 after the Powell Tribune, a competing newspaper, presented him with evidence of made-up quotes in several stories.

CJ Baker, the Powell Tribune staff writer who broke the news, said he regularly read competitors like the Enterprise as a way of “keeping tabs” on what’s going on in his area.

After Mr. Pelczar started at the Enterprise in June, Mr. Baker and his colleagues “kind of noticed there were some weird patterns and phrases that were in his reporting,” like awkward text that seemed like an attempt to sum up the story.

Mr. Baker, a veteran reporter of 15 years, said that the situation escalated after a late July story by Mr. Pelczar had direct quotes that sounded as if they were from a news release rather than spoken aloud in court.

Mr. Baker said that he then began digging, and government agencies that were quoted said they did not know where the quotes came from. Then there was a rather odd quote that was supposed to be from the governor, but it was in his capacity as a rancher and not as the chief executive of the state.