The New York Times drops freelance journalist who used AI to write book review
2026-03-31
The Guardian
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The New York Times severed ties with freelance journalist Alex Preston after discovering he used AI to draft a book review that included plagiarized material from a Guardian review. The AI tool's use led to a breach of intellectual property rights and journalistic standards, prompting the paper's action.[AI generated]
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
An AI system was explicitly used to assist in writing the review, and its outputs included unattributed material copied from another source, constituting a breach of intellectual property rights and journalistic ethics. This misuse of AI directly led to reputational harm to the journalist and the publication, as well as a breach of legal and ethical standards. Therefore, this qualifies as an AI Incident due to the realized harm involving violation of intellectual property rights and professional standards caused by the AI system's use.[AI generated]