Canadian websites take down articles written by suspected fake, AI-generated persona

Several Canadian websites have taken down articles published under the name Daniel Robson, saying the writer's identity cannot be verified and was likely generated by AI.

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Several Canadian websites and news outlets, including the Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette and Policy Options, removed articles written by someone using the name Daniel Robson after questions began to mount over their identity. (Wilfredo Lee/The Associated Press)

Who is Daniel Robson? That's the question editors, journalists and other observers are asking after several Canadian websites took down articles written by someone using that name — but whose identity they now say cannot be verified and was likely generated by artificial intelligence.

The digital magazine Policy Options said last week that it removed an article published last year under Robson's name after it was "unable to independently establish that the person who wrote for us is who he represents himself to be or that the biographical information he provided is accurate."

On Tuesday, the Ottawa Citizen also said opinion columns written by Robson, who was published three times in the newspaper last year, were taken down after an investigation uncovered that he "does not seem to be a real person."

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