What happened

Founded by Matthew Henderson, Good Daily Inc. network of AI-generated local news newsletters uses AI and automation to curate and summarise local news stories. 

However, Henderson was criticised for failing to disclose the use of AI to  subscribers, and rapped for the poor quality of some of his network's outputs, including using identical, potentially fabricated testimonials across different city newsletters. 

Furthermore, some subscribers complained that they had no idea how their were signed up to the network, raising privacy concerns. 

A "give back" program where some winning nonprofits were unaware of their involvement, and potentially inflated audience reach claims in advertiser materials raised further questions about Henderson's integrity and ethics.

Why it happened

Henderson appears to have take advantage of the economic challenges plaguing local news markets in the US to create a set of automated solutions - an opportunity greatly facilitated by advancements in AI and large language models and the lack of regulation or industry standards for AI-generated news.