Multiple news organisations have taken down articles written by an alleged freelance journalist that now appear to have been generated by AI. On Thursday, Press Gazette reported that at least six publications, including Wired and Business Insider, have removed articles from their websites in recent months after it was discovered that the stories – written under the name of Margaux Blanchard – were AI-generated. Wired published a story titled "They Fell in Love Playing Minecraft. A few weeks later, the outlet took down the story, stating in an editor's note: "After an additional review of the article … Wired editorial leadership has determined this article does not meet our editorial standards." The story cited a "Jessica Hu", an alleged 34-year-old "ordained officiant based in Chicago" who reportedly "made a name for herself as a'digital celebrant', specialising in ceremonies across Twitch, Discord and VRChat", according to Press Gazette, which reviewed the Wired article. Both the Press Gazette and the Guardian were not able to verify the identity of Hu. Press Gazette further reported that in April, Business Insider published two essays by Blanchard titled: "Remote work has been the best thing for me as a parent but the worst as a person" and "I had my first kid at 45.

For many of us the term "artificial intelligence" still belongs in the realms of science-fiction and brings to mind the domineering Skynet in the Terminator films or the malevolent Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey. A recent Press Gazette poll asking readers if they think AI robots are a threat to journalism or an opportunity found the majority (69%) of more than 1,200 voters saw AI as a threat. But while what's known as "artificial general intelligence" – machines akin or superior to human intelligence – does not yet exist and may never be fully realised, AI tools are already in use in the news industry today. These tools help in the gathering, production and distribution of information. They fall broadly under the definition of "machine learning", which is a subset of AI, where computers handle specific tasks and are able to learn and improve as they go, independent of human help.

The Guardian has launched a news chatbot on Facebook Messenger in a further experimentation with the format that it first used to share recipes this summer. A chatbot is a computer programme that a user can interact with in a conversational, human way. The idea being that you can ask it any question and it will give you the answer. Send a message to the Guardian on Facebook Messenger, whatever it may be, and you'll be met with a polite response from the "prototype chatbot" asking if you want a daily news briefing. Say "yes" and it will ask you what time you want it delivered in the morning and whether you'd like to see the headlines or the most popular stories of the moment.