The case of the zombie newspaper in Southern Oregon

Almost every day, new articles are being posted to the website of the Southern Oregon newspaper Ashland Daily Tidings, founded in 1876. At least… that’s what it looks like. But here’s the thing: the newspaper closed down two years ago.

So what’s the deal with dailytidings.com? Why do all the articles posted there seem vaguely… familiar? And who are the reporters the website claims is writing them?

OPB managing news editor Ryan Haas has been trying to find out, and stumbled upon something unexpected. At the center of it all is artificial intelligence, and the hope that Ashland readers who once trusted the newspaper won’t notice the difference.

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