---
title: "Ars Technica Publishes A Post With Quotes Fabricated By AI"
id: "11759"
type: "post"
slug: "ars-technica-publishes-a-post-with-quotes-fabricated-by-ai"
published_at: "2026-02-20T16:01:45+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-03-06T15:50:30+00:00"
url: "https://sethgoldstein.me/ars-technica-publishes-a-post-with-quotes-fabricated-by-ai/"
markdown_url: "https://sethgoldstein.me/ars-technica-publishes-a-post-with-quotes-fabricated-by-ai.md"
excerpt: "Ars Technica recently published an article that had quotes that were fabricated by AI/LLMs. When called on it by the person who was “quoted” for the sheer fact that he was NEVER contacted for a quote, Ars did a retraction...."
taxonomy_category:
  - "Rants"
taxonomy_post_tag:
  - "ars technica"
  - "ethics in journalism"
  - "journalism"
  - "my take"
  - "retraction"
---

[Rants](https://sethgoldstein.me/rants/)

# Ars Technica Publishes A Post With Quotes Fabricated By AI

![Image](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/776e9f93cb72a6ef49cc303f0f3a5843419a07f0043cb23d64f49db44c56aeba?s=48&r=g)

Seth Goldstein

·

February 20, 2026

Sol 4070

![Ars Technica Logo](https://sethgoldstein.me/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/ars-e1771609541903.webp)

Ars Technica recently published an article that had quotes that were fabricated by AI/LLMs. When called on it by the person who was “quoted” for the sheer fact that he was NEVER contacted for a quote, [Ars did a retraction](https://arstechnica.com/staff/2026/02/editors-note-retraction-of-article-containing-fabricated-quotations/)
.

There’s much talk about the ethics here and some [good commentary here](https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/412853/ai-goes-awry-ars-technica-retracts-article-with.html)
.

On the latest episode of the TWiT podcast [Intelligent Machines](https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines/episodes/858?autostart=false)
, Leo Laporte, Emily Forlini, and Jeff Jarvis talked about it more.

*For context: Jeff is a journalism professor and author, Leo is a veteran radio guy, and Emily is a senior reporter at PCMag.*

So these guys should have an opinion on this.

Jeff was even handed and explained it like you’d expect a professor to be. Emily was more where I’m at, this reporter needs to be fired. This gives journalism a bad name (one that the industry fights all the time to avoid).

I was a professional journalist for 6 years in the early 2000s, if someone made up quotes then they’d be axed without discussion.

Why not now?

There is no excuse! None!

This is as bad as [Stephen Glass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Glass)
‘ fiasco at the New Republic and [Jayson Blair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayson_Blair)
 at the NYTimes. This is just for the AI age.

What do you think? Am I too heated about this? I might be. But this really gets my blood boiling.😁😃🍻

###### Fediverse reactions

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[ars technica](https://sethgoldstein.me/tag/ars-technica/)
, [ethics in journalism](https://sethgoldstein.me/tag/ethics-in-journalism/)
, [journalism](https://sethgoldstein.me/tag/journalism/)
, [my take](https://sethgoldstein.me/tag/my-take/)
, [retraction](https://sethgoldstein.me/tag/retraction/)