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Research & Benchmarks

Study finds 1 in 10 U.S. newspaper pieces partly AI-written, often undisclosed

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• 2 min read

A new analysis of U.S. print journalism reveals that roughly ten percent of articles now contain AI‑generated passages, and most readers aren’t told. Researchers combed through thousands of pieces from a cross‑section of national and regional outlets, flagging any text that matched patterns typical of large language models.

The findings show a pronounced uptick in machine‑written material, especially within editorial and commentary pages where the tone can shift subtly yet significantly. While newsrooms tout efficiency gains, the same report highlights a growing legal tug‑of‑war: several leading publishers have filed lawsuits accusing AI firms of harvesting their copy to teach algorithms, even as those very organizations slip AI‑crafted prose into their pages with little fanfare. This paradox raises questions about transparency, copyright and the future of journalistic integrity.

The study points out that several major media groups are suing AI companies for scraping their articles to train language models, even as those newsrooms quietly publish AI-generated stories themselves. The surge in AI-generated content is particularly notable in opinion sections of national newspapers. An analysis of 45,000 op-eds and commentaries from The New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal between 2022 and 2025 shows a 25-fold increase in AI use--from just 0.1 percent to 3.4 percent. Opinion pages are now 6.4 times more likely to feature AI-written content than regular news stories at these publications.

Related Topics: #AI #large language models #New York Times #Washington Post #Wall Street Journal #AI-generated #op-eds #copyright #machine‑written

Is the public being told when a story is partly machine‑crafted? The University of Maryland analysis says about one in ten U.S. newspaper pieces contain AI‑generated text, and most readers never know.

Researchers applied the Pangram detector to more than 250,000 recent articles, citing a false‑positive rate of just 0.001 % for news content, which suggests the figure is not a statistical fluke. Yet adoption is far from uniform; local outlets appear far more prone to employ the technology than their national counterparts. Notably, opinion sections of major papers show a sharp rise in AI‑assisted copy.

At the same time, several large media groups have filed lawsuits against AI firms for harvesting their archives to train models, even as their own newsrooms quietly incorporate AI‑written material. The study leaves open whether such practices will erode trust or simply become a routine editorial tool. Until disclosure standards are clarified, readers are left without a clear signal about the human or algorithmic origins of the stories they consume.

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Common Questions Answered

What proportion of U.S. newspaper articles were found to contain AI‑generated text in the University of Maryland study?

The study determined that about one in ten, or roughly 10 %, of U.S. newspaper pieces include passages generated by artificial intelligence. This figure comes from analyzing more than 250,000 recent articles across national and regional outlets.

How did researchers identify AI‑written passages, and what was the reported false‑positive rate?

Researchers applied the Pangram detector, a tool designed to spot patterns typical of large language models, to the article corpus. They reported a false‑positive rate of just 0.001 % for news content, indicating a high level of detection accuracy.

Which sections of newspapers saw the sharpest increase in AI‑generated content, according to the analysis of op‑eds and commentaries?

The surge was most pronounced in editorial and commentary pages, especially opinion sections of national newspapers like The New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Between 2022 and 2025, AI use in these sections rose 25‑fold.

What legal actions are major media groups taking against AI companies, and how does this relate to their own use of AI‑generated stories?

Several large media groups are suing AI firms for scraping their articles to train language models, alleging copyright infringement. Paradoxically, many of these newsrooms are also publishing AI‑generated stories without disclosing the machine‑crafted portions to readers.