This is happening to me, but with "tips" about a huge range of crypto-related issues (or perceived issues) people are personally struggling with. The volume is genuinely challenging to deal with.
It takes fairly little effort for a person to tell their AI bot to research and draft an email, but it takes the recipients real time to dig into these tips and separate hallucinations from tips that might actually have some basis. They're basically DDOSing journalists.
I've basically had to start ignoring tips that come in with clearly AI-written emails, even though I know I risk missing stuff. I just don't have the capacity.
Jason Koebler in 404 Media.
Over the last few months, 404 Media has gotten dozens of clearly AI-generated story leads and tips, many of which appear to have been copy pasted directly from ChatGPT or other chatbots into an email client by a real human. Some of these tips are (or could be) of legitimate public concern and we are happy to get them and to look into them. Many, though, are not.This morning, for example, an Italian painter told me he “loses professional Meta accounts despite contradictory reinstatement email,” and said, in English, that he had “attached a nine-screenshot evidence dossier prepared on 16 October 2026.” When I emailed the painter back asking how he found me, he said “ChatGPT suggested contacting you. I was looking for journalists who investigate technology companies, particularly Meta and issues involving account suspensions and platform accountability.”
Last night, someone emailed me, Joseph, Sam, Emanuel, the Washington Post, CBS News, NBC News, The Markup, The Information, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Sun Times asking for an “independent investigation” into why their Verizon cell phone service wasn’t working on their iPhone.