Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
AI local news network shuts down after plagiarism found
Last edited Sun Apr 5, 2026, 08:35 AM - Edit history (2)
From AXIOS Richmond by Sabrina Moreno Apr 3, 2026
https://www.axios.com/local/richmond/2026/04/03/nota-ai-news-sites-shut-down-plagiarism
An AI-powered local news network shut down after Axios Richmond's questions about copied content on its Henrico site grew into a broader plagiarism scandal.
...snip...
This week, Axios first reported that AI-powered sites had launched in Henrico and Chesterfield as part of Nota, which was testing a national automated push to fill news deserts and cover county governments.
* Henrico Citizen founder and publisher Tom Lappas told Axios that multiple stories on Nota's Henrico site were "stolen" versions of the Citizen's reporting and that staff photos had been used without permission.
* Axios reached out to Nota about those issues on Friday, March 27.
* That same day, Nota CEO Josh Brandau responded saying the company "immediately pulled the work down" after learning of the concerns.
The latest: Nota took down additional stories over the weekend, according to Poynter.
* Axios published its initial story on Monday, March 30. That afternoon, Nota fired Jorge Rodríguez, the Guatemala-based reporter overseeing the Henrico and Chesterfield sites, according to Poynter.
* By Tuesday, the company had shut down all 11 sites in the network, which spanned from California to Georgia.
* Brandau told Poynter that the takedown was to conduct an internal review into the issues raised by Axios Richmond and said the sites were likely closing for good.
...snip...
...snip...
This week, Axios first reported that AI-powered sites had launched in Henrico and Chesterfield as part of Nota, which was testing a national automated push to fill news deserts and cover county governments.
* Henrico Citizen founder and publisher Tom Lappas told Axios that multiple stories on Nota's Henrico site were "stolen" versions of the Citizen's reporting and that staff photos had been used without permission.
* Axios reached out to Nota about those issues on Friday, March 27.
* That same day, Nota CEO Josh Brandau responded saying the company "immediately pulled the work down" after learning of the concerns.
The latest: Nota took down additional stories over the weekend, according to Poynter.
* Axios published its initial story on Monday, March 30. That afternoon, Nota fired Jorge Rodríguez, the Guatemala-based reporter overseeing the Henrico and Chesterfield sites, according to Poynter.
* By Tuesday, the company had shut down all 11 sites in the network, which spanned from California to Georgia.
* Brandau told Poynter that the takedown was to conduct an internal review into the issues raised by Axios Richmond and said the sites were likely closing for good.
...snip...
I'm not surprised that this AI instance committed plagiarism. Their existence is solely based on other's work.
Here in a different part of Virginia the remote newsroom staff (in some different city and state unknown to me) picks stories from the wire services for the local TV website with sometimes amusing results. For a while they didn't seem to know that there are towns with the same name in different states. I recall stories about arrests in Waynesboro, PA and the locals here in VA commenting as if it was local. At least there was no plagiarism.