The site leverages AI agents to engage with sources and is openly critical of AI skeptics.
By Phil Clark on April 26, 2026
A report from The Midas Project’s Model Republic publication reveals that the news site, The Wire by Acutus, relies heavily on AI-generated content. Launched in late 2025, the site has published nearly 100 articles spanning various topics. Its About page claims “collaborative journalism” led by an “editorial team,” but lacks a masthead or credited editors and journalists. The site’s anonymized workings are explained under its How It Works section:
“Our editorial team identifies timely topics and invites contributors with relevant, firsthand experience to share their perspective through structured conversations. These perspectives are synthesized and edited into stories that reflect alignment, divergence, and implications—offering depth, balance, and clarity beyond the headline.”
Journalist Tyler Johnston ran the site’s content through Pangram, an AI detection tool, and found that 69% of the 94 articles were fully AI-generated, 28% were partially so, and only three were human-authored.
Johnston’s concerns grew as the content favored AI development and dismissed AI critics, with articles warning of “Escalating Anti-AI Radicalism” and questioning political stances on AI regulations.
Further investigation revealed that Patrick Hynes, president of the PR firm Novus Public Affairs, was a significant source of engagement for The Wire’s content on X. Novus Public Affairs works with Targeted Victory, a consulting firm central to OpenAI’s lobbying efforts.
Generative AI has potential for misinformation, such as creating fake movie trailers or deepfake audio. If Johnston’s findings are accurate, an AI firm may be misrepresenting its work as “independent journalism” for lobbying purposes, possibly violating its own usage policies.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for alleged copyright infringements in training and operating its AI systems.