Newspaper sorry for ‘AI story’ which said Irish women wear too much fake tan

The Irish Times thinks AI had a hand in producing a piece they published on spray tans (Pictures: Getty/The Irish Times)

The Irish Times believes it was the victim of an AI hoax after publishing an opinion piece that claimed Irish people wear too much fake tan.

The newspaper said it was ‘genuinely sorry’ for the op-ed, which they think may have been produced ‘at least in part’ using artificial intelligence.

The piece, entitled ‘Irish women’s obsession with fake tan is problematic’ appeared on The Irish Times’ website on Thursday morning.

The name of the author was given as Adriana Acosta-Cortez, who was described as a 29-year-old healthcare administrator from Ecuador living in north Dublin.

A photo of the apparent author accompanied the article.

The piece discussed the widespread use of fake tan in Ireland, suggesting it was a form of cultural appropriation.

But on Friday afternoon, a number of people on social media questioned whether the photo and the name of the writer were those of a real person.

The Irish Times’ editor said the breach had highlighted a gap in its pre-publication procedures (Picture: Getty)

By 5.30pm that day the body of the piece had been taken down and in its place, under the headline, it said: `The text of this article has been removed pending checks.’

The newspaper’s editor, Ruadhan Mac Cormaic, wrote in a letter on Sunday that the paper had fallen victim to a deliberate deception and does not ‘take this lightly’.

He said: ‘It was a breach of the trust between The Irish Times and its readers, and we are genuinely sorry.

‘The incident has highlighted a gap in our pre-publication procedures. We need to make them more robust – and we will.’

Mr Mac Cormaic said the incident highlighted one of the challenges raised by generative AI for news organisations.

‘We, like others, will learn and adapt,’ he added.

He said The Irish Times works hard to come up with a blend of thought-provoking columns in its opinion section that ‘inform, stimulate and lend a fresh perspective on a current issue’.

However, the editor said the paper ‘got it badly wrong’ on Thursday.

He said: ‘We published online an opinion column under the headline ‘Irish women’s obsession with fake tan is problematic’, written by someone purporting to be a young immigrant woman in Ireland.

‘It made an argument that has been aired in other countries but related it to the Irish context.

‘Over the course of several days, the author engaged with the relevant editorial desk – taking suggestions for edits on board, offering personal anecdotes and supplying links to relevant research.

‘All of this was taken in good faith, and the article was published online on Thursday morning.’

Mr Mac Cormaic said the newspaper became aware the column may not have been genuine less than 24 hours later.

He said: ‘That prompted us to remove it from the site and to initiate a review, which is ongoing.

‘It now appears that the article and the accompanying byline photo may have been produced, at least in part, using generative AI technology.

‘It was a hoax; the person we were corresponding with was not who they claimed to be. We had fallen victim to a deliberate and coordinated deception.”

Mr Mac Cormaic said The Irish Times will continue to ‘make space for new writers, not least those from under-represented communities’ and to ‘offer the high-quality journalism you expect’.

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