--- title: "Police Say AI-Generated Article About Local Murder Is “Entirely” Made Up" description: "Alternative Facts Before Christmas, the Southern New Jersey town of Bridgeton was best known for hosting the state's first zoo — but now, an artificial intelligence-generated news report about a murder that never happened may have put it on the map for the wrong reasons. In a Facebook post, Bridgeton police said that a since-deleted […]" date: "2024-01-03" modified: "2024-01-03" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/police-ai-article-murder-false" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai writing" - "fake news" - "journalism" - "the digest" --- # Police Say AI-Generated Article About Local Murder Is “Entirely” Made Up ![An AI-generated article about a murder that never happened in New Jersey has police and local news outlets in a tizzy.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Alternative Facts Before Christmas, the Southern New Jersey town of Bridgeton was best known for [hosting the state's first zoo]() — but now, an artificial intelligence-generated news report about a murder that never happened may have put it on the map for all the wrong reasons. In a [Facebook post](), Bridgeton police said that a since-deleted article on the news aggregation site NewsBreak about a Christmas Day murder in the town is "entirely false." "Nothing even similar to this story occurred on or around Christmas, or even in recent memory for the area they described," the Bridgeton Police Department's post explains. "The article does not have an author and states at the bottom, 'This post includes content assisted by AI tools. This content was assisted by AI and may contain errors. Please verify critical information with trusted sources.'" ## Cite Your Sources While it's common for AI-generated articles to include disclaimers similar to the one BPD called out, *Futurism* was not able to independently verify the contents of the article because it has been summarily deleted from NewsBreak and is not archived anywhere online that we were able to find. We have reached out to the site to ask if the article was a contributor original, which the [site does publish]() a la Medium, or if it had been written elsewhere. That said, we're not too optimistic about a response, considering that [*NJ.com* said]() in its own reporting about the AI incident that NewsBreak had not responded to its request for comment. Ultimately, the slipperiness of this faux article's sourcing speaks to the heart of AI-generated content. Instead of revolutionizing media — or anything else, for that matter — [outlet owners]() who [insist on using generative AI]() [instead of human writers]() have done little more than [sow discord]() in an institution that's already [infamously mistrusted by the public](). Media was already in a [very sorry state]() before ChatGPT dropped in late 2022, but with a full year of AI madness behind us, it seems like nobody in charge has learned anything from the many mistakes made with the technology. **More on AI "articles":** [*80 Percent of Americans Think Presenting AI Content as Human-Made Should Be Illegal*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()