AI fake news complaining about how AI fake news is the death of real news

In a 2026 article, journalist Joshua Benton investigates a viral story claiming that a conservative media startup called 1819 News had bought up and destroyed 47 Alabama weekly newspapers through AI-generated content, only to discover the entire story was itself AI-generated misinformation. The incident exemplifies an emerging problem where artificial intelligence is now being used to create convincing fake news articles about the dangers of AI-generated fake news, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish fact from fabrication in journalism.