L’Observatoire de l’Europe uses AI to plagiarise Euronews content

Occurred: March 2024

Online news channel L’Observatoire de l’Europe has been accused of using AI to plagiarise content from European news publisher Euronews without consent or acknowledgement.

Citing an example of an article contradicting the rumour of the death of King Charles III first published by Euronews, the same article was found on L’Observatoire de l’Europe the same day under the byline 'Jean Delaunay'. Other examples have included the reproduction of an article on ChatGPT and one on St. Patrick's Day.

Delaunay was presented as founder of L’Observatoire de l’Europe and professor of political science at several universities. However, attempts by Newsguard to identify the author failed.

The incident raised concerns about the use of generative AI models to reproduce copyrighted or plagiarised material without proper attribution. It also highlighted the use of generative AI to develop business models that replicate others, potentially denying the original content creators of their rightful earnings.

System 🤖

Incident databank 🔢

Operator: L’Observatoire de l’Europe
Developer:  
Country: Belgium
Sector: Media/entertainment/sports/arts
Purpose: Republish news articles
Technology: Chatbot
Issue: Cheating/plagiarism; Copyright
Transparency: Governance; Marketing