Philadelphia and New Jersey Local News Sites Accused of Using AI and Impersonating Authors
Several local news websites in Philadelphia and New Jersey, including Northeast Times, Lower Bucks Times, South Philly Review, and centraljersey.com, are under scrutiny for allegedly using AI-generated content and impersonating authors. Billy Penn conducted an investigation over several months, revealing instances where journalists' bylines were used on articles they did not write, and their profile photos were replaced with images of other individuals. For example, Steven Bassin, a former sports reporter for centraljersey.com, found his name on recent articles about Lionel Messi, despite not having worked for the company in nearly four years. Similarly, Andrew Martins, who last wrote for these papers in 2018, has a recent byline on the centraljersey.com website. The investigation also found instances of articles with language strikingly similar to those published by other local outlets, such as WHYY and The Philadelphia Inquirer, without proper attribution. Many author photos and main images on these site...
