Ars Technica
Report on an AI agent's 'smear campaign' against an engineer
Withdrawn · 13 February 2026
SectorMedia
CountryUnited States
Document typeNews article
ConsequenceWithdrawn
What was fabricated
A direct quotation attributed to a real, named source he never said — an AI paraphrase used as a verbatim quote.
What happened as a result
Ars Technica retracted the article on 18 Feb 2026; the reporter left after an investigation.
Sources
- https://www.niemanlab.org/reading/ars-technica-fires-reporter-after-ai-controversy-involving-fabricated-quotes/
- https://www.techdirt.com/2026/02/18/ars-technica-retracts-story-featuring-fake-quotes-made-up-by-ai-about-a-different-ai-that-launched-a-weird-smear-campaign-against-an-engineer-who-rejected-its-code-seriously/
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