NTB retracted Telenor security report article after AI tool created fabricated quotes
NTB withdrew a news article about Telenor's security report after discovering that an AI tool had generated five fabricated direct quotes not present in the original document and invented a non-existent Telenor security director. The news agency acknowledged improper use of AI in the article's creation.
What happened
On the morning of 15 October, NTB published a news article about Telenor's annual security report. Shortly after, the entire article was withdrawn and replaced with different text.
The original article contained five direct quotes that NTB stated were taken from Telenor's report, but none of these quotations could be found in the actual report. The article also named Håkon Berg as Telenor's security director and attributed a quote to him, but no such person has held this position at Telenor. The report's foreword was actually signed by CEO Birgitte Engebretsen.
NTB's news editor Christina Dorthellinger Nygaard confirmed that the erroneous details resulted from improper use of artificial intelligence in the article's creation.
Reported impact
The fabricated article was distributed through NTB to multiple news outlets, including Finansavisen and Nettavisen. As of the reporting date, the article remained accessible on some news websites despite NTB's retraction notification.
Index analysis
The AI tool generated quotations that did not exist in the source material, some appearing to be exaggerations or distortions of points in Telenor's report rather than direct paraphrasing.
Governance controls
NTB's editorial standards were not followed in the article's production, specifically sections 3.2 and 3.7 of their guidelines.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.