--- title: "Journalist Startled to Discover His Byline Has Been Replaced by Bot" description: "A digital publication was revived from the media graveyard — only to have its archived news articles re-attributed to bots." date: "2024-03-09" modified: "2024-03-09" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/journalist-byline-replaced" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "ai-generated content" - "journalism" - "the digest" --- # Journalist Startled to Discover His Byline Has Been Replaced by Bot ![A digital paper was revived from the media graveyard — only to have its archived news articles re-attributed to fake writers.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Vampire Independent New journalistic nightmare unlocked: a defunct digital publication was revived from the media graveyard, only to have its Frankensteiners re-attribute old articles to bots. Journalist and *Forever Wars* writer Spencer Ackerman, a one-time employee of the since-sunsetted news site called the *Washington Independent*, [this week recounted his shock]() to discover that his decade-old articles — which had unfortunately been deleted alongside the rest of the website — had mysteriously resurfaced. But while the words in the article were certainly Ackerman's, as the journalist explained in his newsletter, the byline attached to them was of one "Tyreece Bauer" — an alleged "analyst and photographer in the field of technology" who does not appear to be real. "On the zombie edition of the *Washington Independent* I discovered, the piece I had published more than ten years before was attributed to someone else," reported Ackerman. "Someone unlikely to have ever existed, and whose byline graced an article it had absolutely never written." Bauer is one of many fake "writers" now bylining re-attributed *Washington Independent* news articles in the undead publication's archive. Meanwhile, also under fake bylines, the new and not-so-improved *Washington Independent* is churning out new content: clickbait articles about topics like celebrities and crypto, bizarre affiliate mush, and hastily paraphrased copies of other outlets' reporting. And all of this, of course, strongly appears to be AI-generated. Indeed, in the eroding, fragmented, and AI-laden 2024 media landscape, not even deleted bylines are safe from money-hungry SEO spammers and AI-generated nonsense. https://twitter.com/attackerman/status/1765451126759960785 ## Postcard from Media Hell What's more, as Ackerman points out, the *Washington Independent* doesn't appear to be the only vampiric site like this out there. In an X-formerly-Twitter thread, *New York Times* journalist Lydia DePillis [reported]() that another website associated with the original *Washington Independent's* parent organization had also been revived, noting that it "looks legit at first but quickly degenerates into gibberish." "It just strikes me as the saddest encapsulation of the trajectory of the media industry over the past 15 years," DePillis [continued]() in the thread, "and everything is trash." Ackerman and DePillis' findings are alarming for more reasons than one. From an individual writer's perspective, seeing your time and labor resurrected under a bot's byline is obviously terrible. And while SEO leeches buying and spinning up defunct websites for any remaining search engine credibility is anything but a new practice, doing so under the title of a once-legitimate news site is extra dangerous. Throw in the fake authors and the AI of it all, and you have a grotesque misinformation cocktail to potentially exploit. One ray of hope? It's one of the many spammy practices that Google claims its [new spam policies]() are going to crack down on. Still, consider this yet another grim postcard from the end of the internet as we know it. **More on AI and journalism:** *[Wikipedia No Longer Considers CNET a "Generally Reliable" Source After AI Scandal]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()