--- title: "USA Today Owner Pauses AI Articles After Butchering Sports Coverage" description: "The Columbus Dispatch has paused AI efforts after its sports writing AI started publishing awful articles about local high school match-ups." date: "2023-08-29" modified: "2023-08-29" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/usa-today-owner-ai-articles-sports" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "ai journalism" - "journalism" - "the digest" --- # USA Today Owner Pauses AI Articles After Butchering Sports Coverage ![The Columbus Dispatch has paused AI efforts after its sports writing AI started publishing awful articles about local high school match-ups.]() *Handsome well dressed businessman reading burning newspaper \Image: Getty Images\* ## Fumble That was fast. *The* *Columbus Dispatch*, a newspaper serving the Columbus, Ohio area, has suspended its AI efforts after its AI-powered sports writing bot was caught churning out horrible, robotic articles about local sports, [*Axios* reports](). The *Dispatch —* which is notably owned by *USA Today* publisher Gannett — only started publishing the AI-generated sports pieces on August 18, using the bot to drum up quick-hit stories about the winners and losers in regional high school football and soccer matches. And though the paper's ethics disclosure states that all AI-spun content featured in its reporting "must be verified for accuracy and factuality before being used in reporting," we'd be surprised if a single human eye was laid on these articles before publishing. Why? Because each formulaic article is riddled with laughably vague statements — one [August 18 article about a football game](), for example, described the event as a "close encounter of the athletic kind" — and repetitive phrasing about [hibernating]() [second halves]() and [which team]() [drew first blood](). One article [even failed to populate properly](), with the text instead featuring a bracketed glimpse at how its opening sentence was *supposed* to read. "The Worthington Christian \[\[WINNING\_TEAM\_MASCOT\]\] defeated the Westerville North \[\[LOSING\_TEAM\_MASCOT\]\] 2-1 in an Ohio boys soccer game on Saturday," reads the butchered intro. Yikes. ## Short and Sweet The *Dispatch*'s AI efforts were powered by LedeAI, a startup [claiming]() to use generative AI to offer "lightning-fast" and "easy to read" sports content. (The firm also goes so far as to declare that its datasets are the "deepest and most scalable in the world," which feels a bit like slapping an Amazon-purchased World's Best Coffee sticker onto any old cafe window.) Another bite of this riveting, well-informed journalism: "The Steubenville Big Red defeated the Cambridge Bobcats 10-0 in an Ohio boys soccer game on Saturday," [reads one August 19th article](). "A suffocating defense helped Steubenville handle Cambridge 10-0 in Ohio boys soccer on Aug. 19." That's it. That's the whole post. ## Second Quarter Hibernation Gannett has unsurprisingly put a temporary kibosh on the project, telling *Axios* that "this local AI sports effort is being paused." The publisher is "continually evaluating vendors," a spokesperson for the publisher added, "as we refine processes to ensure all the news and information we provide meets the highest journalistic standards." Speaking of journalistic standards? It's worth noting, as *Axios* did, that this is the first football season played [since Gannett shut down *ThisWeek Community News*](), an [award-winning]() newspaper collection that documented local area sports. But in the words of *Dispatch's* AI itself, may the AI effort enjoy its "[hibernation]()." **More on AI and journalism:** [*"AI Will Never Replace Journalism," Says Magazine CEO Replacing Journalists with AI*]() ## 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]()