AI local news network shuts down after plagiarism scandal
Artificial intelligence company Nota shut down its network of 11 local news websites after discovering that more than 70 articles contained reporting, writing, and photography from local journalists without attribution. The LLM-based system, designed to serve news deserts, incorporated existing journalism without proper credit.
What happened
Artificial intelligence company Nota shut down its network of 11 local news sites, collectively called Nota News, after discovering dozens of instances of plagiarism. The sites, which launched in September, were intended to bring bilingual local reporting to underserved communities.
Poynter found more than 70 stories dating back to October that included reporting, writing and photography from local journalists without attribution. The articles were supposed to be based on publicly available civic information such as press releases and videos of city council meetings, but instead incorporated work from local journalists.
Reported impact
Local journalists had their work incorporated into Nota News articles without attribution. The plagiarism affected reporting, writing and photography from journalists in the communities served by the network.
Index analysis
The LLM-based system was unable to create original reporting and instead incorporated existing journalism to provide context and explanation for stories. The 11 human editors using the LLM tools apparently did not realize that the system had drawn in work from local journalists.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
This record was researched and written by the Index from original reporting. Its sources are still being verified by an editor, and they are listed here once that check is complete. Until then the record carries no reviewer.