AI News Company Shuts Down Sites After Plagiarism Investigation
Nota, an artificial intelligence company whose clients include The Boston Globe and the Institute for Nonprofit News, is closing its network of 11 local news sites after investigations uncovered dozens of instances of plagiarism.
Axios Richmond and Poynter discovered that stories on Nota's sites contained reporting, quotes, and photographs lifted directly from local news outlets. CEO Josh Brandau confirmed the closure after being alerted to the plagiarized material.
What Nota News Was
Nota launched the sites in September under the name Nota News, positioning the effort as a way to address news deserts by providing "bilingual local reporting and civic tools to underserved communities." Each site focused on a specific county or region identified as lacking local news coverage.
Two part-time editors managed all 11 sites, using Nota's AI tools to generate articles in English and Spanish. Stories covered local housing initiatives, school events, and other community topics.
How It Unraveled
The plagiarism ranged across multiple stories. Rather than generating original reporting, the AI system reproduced content from existing local news organizations - including direct quotes and images without attribution.
The discovery raises questions about how AI tools trained on vast amounts of text handle attribution and originality when tasked with generating news content. For writers and editors, the case illustrates a practical problem: AI systems can reproduce existing work convincingly without flagging it as borrowed material.
Understanding generative AI and LLM systems is increasingly important for newsroom professionals evaluating these tools.
Nota's closure suggests the company prioritized speed and scale over editorial oversight. Two editors managing 11 sites across multiple languages left little room for fact-checking or plagiarism detection before publication.
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