Ars Technica fires reporter after AI-generated fabricated quotes
Mar 3rd 2026
Ars Technica removed and retracted a Feb 13 story after finding AI-generated quotations attributed to a source who did not say them, and subsequently fired senior reporter Benj Edwards following an internal review.
- Ars Technica retracted a Feb 13 story two days later after editor-in-chief Ken Fisher said it included fabricated quotations generated by an AI tool.
- The story covered an AI agent that allegedly produced a hit piece on engineer Scott Shambaugh after he rejected its code.
- Benj Edwards apologized on Bluesky, saying he used an experimental Claude Code-based tool and then pasted text into ChatGPT while sick, which led to paraphrased rather than verified quotes.
- Co-author Kyle Orland was reported to have had no role in the quotation error.
- Ars closed reader comments on Feb 27, said it completed a review and will publish a guide on its AI use, Futurism first reported the firing, 404 Media first reported the retraction, and Edwards' author page now lists him as a former reporter.