News Site Uses AI Agents Posing as Reporters to Interview Experts
A website launched in late December appears to be using artificial intelligence agents that impersonate journalists to contact and quote human experts - while publishing articles that favor the AI industry and attack its critics.
The Wire by Acutus, which went live on December 29, 2025, contains no human bylines. An investigation by Model Republic found that 97 percent of its articles are fully or partially AI-generated. The site's publicly accessible code reveals fields for "background information for the AI to use when generating questions and writing the story" and "suggested questions for the AI interviewer to ask."
The editorial review process is largely automated. Four of five review steps are handled by AI, with a median completion time of 44 seconds, according to the reporting.
AI Agents Impersonating Reporters
Model Republic obtained an email sent to Nathan Calvin, vice president and general counsel of the advocacy group Encode. The message claimed to be from an Acutus reporter named Michael Chen, inviting Calvin to answer questions for a story about an AI bill in Tennessee.
Web searches found no record of a reporter named Michael Chen. The email came from "reporter@acutuswire.com," a generic address, despite the publication claiming multiple contributors. The site's code also contained references to an "AI interviewer" and "reporter agent."
Possible Links to OpenAI
The investigation uncovered connections between Acutus and OpenAI, though they remain circumstantial. Patrick Hynes, president of the Republican firm Novus Public Affairs, has promoted Acutus articles on social media - two of only four X posts linking to the site come from him.
Novus works for Targeted Victory, whose CEO Zac Moffatt co-founded Leading The Future, a $125 million super PAC funded by OpenAI president Greg Brockman. Model Republic suggests the connections point to "OpenAI's super PAC using Acutus to push its political agenda under the guise of independent journalism."
OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.
Content Strategy Targets AI Critics
Acutus articles promote favorable views of AI technology while attacking those who question it. One piece criticized AI safety advocate and journalist John Sherman over comments he made about burning data centers on his podcast.
The article went further, contacting organizations listed as Sherman's consulting clients to ask "whether they intended to continue working with his firm."
Broader Pattern in Tech
The discovery comes as major technology companies have increased their control over media outlets. OpenAI purchased the tech talk show TPBN last month, a platform widely listened to in Silicon Valley. Jeff Bezos acquired The Washington Post, Palantir launched its own publication, and Marc Benioff bought Time magazine.
The use of generative AI and LLMs in newsrooms remains controversial, even for limited applications like brainstorming or editing. Acutus represents a significant escalation - AI agents conducting interviews and generating coverage while posing as human journalists.
For writers and journalists, the implications are direct. The model demonstrates how AI-generated content can be deployed at scale to shape coverage of an industry while obscuring its origins and funding sources.
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