'Irish Times' apologises after publishing AI-generated opinion piece
15 May 2023 03:09pm
picture for illustrated purposes - FILEPIX
Ruadhan Mac Cormaic said the newspaper was "genuinely sorry” for publishing the op-ed entitled "Irish women’s obsession with fake tan is problematic” on Thursday morning.
The name of the author was given as Adriana Acosta-Cortez, who was described as a 29-year-old healthcare administrator from Ecuador living in north Dublin.
The opinion piece also included a supposed photo of the author.
The article discussed the widespread use of fake tan in Ireland, suggesting it was a form of cultural appropriation.
On Friday afternoon, several people on social media questioned whether the photo and the name of the op-ed writer were those of a real person.
By around 5.30pm (1630 GMT) on Friday, the body of the opinion piece had been removed and replaced with the line: "The text of this article has been removed pending checks”.
In a letter from the editor on Sunday, Mac Cormaic said the paper had fallen victim to deliberate deception and does not "take this lightly”.
He said: "It was a breach of the trust between The Irish Times and its readers, and we are genuinely sorry.
"The incident has highlighted a gap in our pre-publication procedures. We need to make them more robust - and we will.”
Mac Cormaic said the incident underlined one of the challenges raised by generative AI for news organisations.
The editor said: "We, like others, will learn and adapt.”
He said The Irish Times works hard to come up with a blend of thought-provoking columns in its opinion section that "inform, stimulate and lend a fresh perspective on a current issue”.
However, the editor said the paper "got it badly wrong” on Thursday.
He said: "We published online an opinion column under the headline ‘Irish women’s obsession with fake tan is problematic’, written by someone purporting to be a young immigrant woman in Ireland.
"It made an argument that has been aired in other countries but related it to the Irish context.
"Over the course of several days, the author engaged with the relevant editorial desk - taking suggestions for edits on board, offering personal anecdotes, and supplying links to relevant research.” - BERNAMA
