Wyoming reporter resigns after using AI to fabricate quotes
A rookie reporter at a Wyoming newspaper used generative AI to fabricate quotes and publish them as statements from the state's governor and other public figures. The reporter resigned and the newspaper apologized after a competing journalist discovered the fabrications during editorial review.
What happened
Aaron Pelczar, a 40-year-old rookie reporter at the Cody Enterprise in Wyoming, used AI to generate fake quotes and stories in his articles. Powell Tribune reporter CJ Baker noticed robotic-sounding quotes from Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon and others, and confronted Pelczar, who admitted to using AI and resigned shortly after.
A review of Pelczar's work found that seven of his articles contained AI-generated quotes from six different people. In one case, Pelczar wrote a story about a new OSHA rule that included an entirely fabricated quote from Governor Gordon, according to the governor's spokesperson. Another story combined a real quote from a news release with a fabricated one.
Reported impact
The false quotes were attributed to Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon and a local prosecutor. The governor's staff only learned about the fabricated quotes when the competing reporter called them to verify.
Cody Enterprise editor Chris Bacon took responsibility for the failure, stating that he failed to catch the AI-generated copy and false quotes during editorial review.
Index analysis
The AI-generated quotes contained telltale signs of synthetic text, including robotic phrasing and "life lesson" conclusions typical of chatbot outputs. One story about Larry the Cable Guy included lines like "This structure ensures that the most critical information is presented first," which appeared extracted from an AI summary rather than original reporting.
The quotes sounded believable to the editor but none of the individuals quoted had actually spoken to Pelczar. Baker noted that some phrases sounded like they came from news releases, yet agencies involved confirmed no such releases existed.
Governance controls
The Cody Enterprise editor admitted to failing in his editorial oversight, saying "It matters not that the false quotes were the apparent error of a hurried rookie reporter that trusted AI. It was my job." The newspaper launched a full review of Pelczar's work after the incident was discovered.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.