The New York Times has cut ties with a freelancer after discovering he used AI to help write a book review that incorporated elements of a Guardian review on the same book.
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Key Takeaways
- The Times cut ties with freelancer Alex Preston after an AI-assisted book review.
- His review echoed a Guardian piece because the AI tool pulled material without attribution.
- Reflects tension between newsroom AI policies and freelancer use of the tools.
A reader notified the Times in late March that its January 6 review of “Watching Over Her” by Jean-Baptiste Andrea bore similarities to a review the Guardian published in August 2025. The Times review was written by author and journalist Alex Preston. The Times launched an internal review and spoke with Preston, who admitted he used an AI tool to help draft the piece and failed to catch the Guardian material before publication, TheWrap reported.
“Editors have appended a note to a book review written earlier this year by a freelance critic, who told The Times after publication that he had used an A.I. tool to assist him in producing the piece,” a Times spokesperson said. “This tool produced similarities to a book review published in The Guardian, which our editors’ note makes clear. For staff journalists and freelance writers alike, reliance on A.I. and inclusion of unattributed work by another writer is a serious violation of the Times’s integrity and fundamental journalistic standards.”
Preston told TheWrap he used an “A.I. editing tool improperly on a draft I had written” and failed to catch “overlapping language” from the Guardian review. He said he has not used AI on his books or other published pieces. The Times notified the Guardian and added an editor’s note to the online review acknowledging the AI use and linking to the original Guardian piece. Preston, who has written six reviews for the Times between 2021 and 2026, will no longer write for the paper.
The incident comes as the Times has been vocal about its stance on AI transparency in journalism. The paper published internal principles stating that work using generative AI must be “vetted by our journalists” and “reviewed by editors,” and that articles should explain to readers how AI was used and the steps taken to “mitigate risks, such as bias or inaccuracy.” “The first principles of journalism should apply just as forcefully when machines are involved,” the Times said.
Preston is a six-time author whose most recent book, “A Stranger in Corfu,” was published last month by Pegasus Books. He has also published work in the Financial Times, the Economist, and the Guardian, and serves as head of advisory for the Man Group investment management firm.
The episode highlights the ongoing tension between newsrooms that are wrestling with AI adoption and the freelancers who contribute to them — a dynamic playing out as outlets like the Times navigate broader disruptions to the journalism industry.
