OpenAI-linked site deployed AI journalists posing as humans to gather quotes and push pro-AI agenda

Bots Posing as Journalists Exposed in Automated News Operation

A news website with circumstantial but striking links to OpenAI has been caught deploying AI agents impersonating human journalists to conduct interviews and gather quotes from real people, according to an investigation published by The Midas Project's Model Republic 2

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. The site, called The Wire by Acutus, launched on December 29, 2025, and has since published 94 articles using a fully automated AI pipeline that drafts stories, reviews them, and sends bots to solicit information under fake journalist bylines 1

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The operation came to light when Nathan Calvin, vice president and general counsel at AI advocacy group Encode, received a press inquiry from someone claiming to be a reporter named Michael Chen. The email featured loaded questions and offered only a written Q&A format, raising immediate suspicions 1

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. After forwarding the message to Tyler Johnston, executive director of The Midas Project, an AI detection tool called Pangram confirmed the email was machine-generated. Further analysis found that 69% of Acutus articles were entirely AI-generated, with another 28% partially so 1

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Fully Automated AI Pipeline Revealed Through Exposed Code

The investigation uncovered that Acutus's publicly accessible JavaScript and API endpoints exposed the entire content production system. Built as a React application, the site's client-side code contained elements of an internal editorial dashboard with fields labeled "AI Background Context" and a "Generate Story Draft" button that automates article creation 1

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. The code also revealed infrastructure for an "AI interviewer" and "reporter agent" designed to conduct outreach and gather quotes through automated exchanges 2

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The site's API returned full internal records showing an automated multi-pass editorial review scored across categories including AP style compliance, quote accuracy, and source verification. The median time between resolving the first review issue and the last was just 44 seconds, with publication typically following 10 seconds later 1

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. Of the 94 stories in the database, 42 carried an automated status of "needs_revision" from the site's own AI reviewer, yet all 42 were published regardless 1

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OpenAI Super PAC Connection Through Political Operatives

While Acutus maintained almost no public profile, investigators traced connections between the site and OpenAI's political operation through a web of relationships. Patrick Hynes, president of PR firm Novus Public Affairs, accounted for roughly half of the site's minimal social media engagement, having shared Acutus articles twice out of only four total posts linking to the site on X 1

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Novus Public Affairs lists Targeted Victory among its clients. Targeted Victory's CEO, Zac Moffatt, co-founded Leading The Future, a $125 million super PAC backed by OpenAI president Greg Brockman and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz 1

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. The super PAC launched in August 2025 with the stated goal of opposing state-level AI regulation and supporting pro-AI candidates 1

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. Model Republic infers that "OpenAI's super PAC may be using Acutus to push its political agenda under the guise of independent journalism" 2

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Adding to the appearance of coordination, Hynes appeared as a quoted source in an Acutus article praising a New Hampshire governor's housing policy on behalf of Novus, with no disclosure that his firm appeared to be operating the publication quoting him 1

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Generate Pro-AI Articles While Attacking Critics

The site's content followed no coherent editorial identity but instead closely mirrored what a PR firm's client roster might produce, with articles favorable to the pharmaceutical industry, the cryptocurrency lobby, and multiple 2026 Republican Senate campaigns appearing alongside pro-AI policy coverage 1

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. One Acutus piece targeted AI safety advocate and journalist John Sherman for comments he made about burning data centers on his podcast, going so far as to contact each organization listed as a client for Sherman's consulting firm about the comments 2

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This development raises urgent questions about AI's role in journalism and the potential for automated systems to manufacture the appearance of independent news coverage while advancing specific political motives. Even if the OpenAI connections prove circumstantial, the fact that AI agents are conducting interviews under fake journalist bylines represents a significant escalation in how machine-generated content is being deployed. The use of AI in newsrooms remains controversial even for limited applications, making this fully automated operation particularly concerning for media integrity and public trust in journalism.