Wall Street Journal Editor Praises AI-Generated Content at Fortune
Emma Tucker, editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, sent an email congratulating Fortune on its use of AI to produce articles, according to a message obtained by Semafor. Tucker told Fortune editor Alyson Shontell she "absolutely loved" the magazine's approach and required her staff to read about the effort.
Fortune editor Nick Lichtenberg used AI to produce 600 stories in six months-more than his colleagues write in a year. AI-assisted articles accounted for nearly 20 percent of Fortune's web traffic in the second half of 2025.
Lichtenberg's method was straightforward: copy press releases into a chatbot and ask it to generate an article. He described the process openly in a Wall Street Journal report last month.
Tucker's Position on AI in Newsrooms
Tucker told Shontell she viewed them both as outliers willing to embrace AI while others resisted. "I love your totally clear-eyed, unsentimental approach to AI in newsrooms," she wrote. "Makes you pretty unique among our cohort."
Tucker mentioned discussing the Fortune approach with her staff in Tokyo. "I just did an All Hands meeting with our APAC staff and told them they all had to read it," she said.
She added a blunt assessment: "Anyone who doesn't get what you are doing at fortune, or thinks it is 'wrong', should get out of journalism fast!"
Wider Industry Tensions Over AI
AI's role in newsrooms remains contentious. The New York Times has faced recent criticism for publishing AI-generated or AI-assisted content in both confirmed and alleged cases.
Other news organizations have launched their own experiments. The Washington Post released an AI-generated podcast in December that fabricated facts and misattributed quotes. Bloomberg uses AI to write article summaries. The New York Times has used AI for headline generation for years.
Newsroom leaders are pushing adoption regardless of staff concerns. An Associated Press senior manager told staff that "resistance" to AI was "futile."
What This Means for Writers
For journalists and writers, the debate centers on whether AI-assisted production represents efficiency or a decline in reporting standards. Tucker's email suggests major newsroom leadership views skepticism about the technology as outdated.
Writers interested in understanding how AI is reshaping journalism can explore AI for Writers and Generative AI and LLM resources to stay informed about the tools reshaping their industry.
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