AI journalist deceived U.S. media for months

Major American outlets Wired and Business Insider fell victim to an elaborate scheme powered by artificial intelligence, a non-existent journalist managed to publish articles in their pages for several months, reports The Guardian.

At least six publications have since removed articles published under the name Margaux Blanchard, after it emerged that all the texts had been generated by AI. In May, Wired ran a story titled “They Fell in Love Playing Minecraft. Then the Game Became Their Wedding Venue”, featuring an interview with a fictitious “digital guest” from Chicago. Business Insider published two first-person essays about remote work and late parenthood.

The scheme unraveled when Dispatch editor Jacob Furedi received a pitch from Blanchard about a mysterious town in Colorado called Grayvmont, allegedly an abandoned mining settlement repurposed as a covert training site for death investigations. Furedi suspected the pitch was written by ChatGPT and couldn’t find any evidence that the town existed.

When asked for documentation, Blanchard responded with detailed but evasive explanations. Once Furedi pressed for proof of her existence, she stopped replying altogether.

Wired later admitted its mistake:

"If anyone should be able to catch an AI scammer, it’s Wired. In fact we do, all the time … Unfortunately, one got through."

A Business Insider spokesperson said the outlet has since strengthened its author verification protocols.