Dawn faces backlash for publishing AI prompt in newspaper story

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s oldest and leading English newspaper, Dawn, has been facing backlash for using AI tools, especially ChatGPT, for editing articles and new pieces.

The publication faced criticism on social media after it forgot to undo the AI prompt from one of the news articles, published in the Business page of the paper on November 12.

The last paragraph of the story, titled ‘Auto sales rev up in October‘ reads, “If you want, I can also create an even snappier `front-page style` version with punchy one-line stats and a bold, infographic-ready layout perfect for maximum reader impact. Do you want me to do that next?”

Several X accounts highlighted the mistake and showed concern over the grave negligence in one of the country’s leading newspapers.

Taking on X, the former Federal Minister, Shireen Mazari, advised that “at least the last para should have been deleted so at least a veneer of credibility was retained!”

Journalist Omar Quraishi joked, “I know journalists are using AI in their work, but this is a bit much!”

“Dawn business pages desk should have at least edited the last para out!” he wrote on X.

Senior journalist and former federal minister for information, Murtaza Solangi, wrote, “Please train your people to edit the AI response at least.”