The outlet published AI-hallucinated quotes about a developer in a story about AI hallucinating content about that same developer
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On February 13, 2026, a software developer named Scott Shambaugh sat down to read an article about himself. The article, published by Ars Technica, covered an incident where an AI agent had fabricated a hit piece about him.
The article about the fabrication contained fabricated quotes attributed to him.
Quotes he never said. Sentences he never wrote.
Published in a story whose entire premise was that AI systems fabricate things about people.
You can’t make this shit up.
He posted a comment on the Ars OpenForum within 22 minutes.
“Scott Shambaugh here. None of the quotes you attribute to me in the second half of the article are…