The rise of artificial intelligence, or AI, has sharpened a concern for journalists: How do we know if information found online or submitted to us is generated by a human being? What is real and what is created by, say, robots (or “bots”)?
Using artificial intelligence, people can generate false images, make fake videos of real people saying things they never said, or even populate websites with supposed news articles to bolster bogus claims.
The answer for journalists, of course, is good, old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting to verify the facts.
It was against this new and uncertain backdrop that The Oregonian/OregonLive newsroom received an email over Mother’s Day weekend with the subject line: “Urgent legal request.”
The note came from an Italian email address and the sender said, “I contact you on behalf of my client John Babikian.”
The sender requested that we remove from OregonLive an article written by reporter Jeff Manning in 2014.
Manning’s article reported in meticulous detail a dispute over a proposed vineyard near The Dalles, in an area where road access and a well would be shared with neighbors. One investor in the planned development of nearly 500 acres in Wasco County was named John Babikian, Manning reported.
One county resident searched online and found articles about Babikian that concerned him, Manning reported at the time. The resident raised those concerns to officials in The Dalles.
Manning learned of the controversial development and began his reporting. “Accused fraudster’s money tied to Columbia River Gorge vineyard, fuels feud between neighbors,” Manning wrote. “The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused a 26-year-old Canadian stock promoter and multi-millionaire named John Babikian … of masterminding a massive penny stock promotion. Babikian’s location is unknown.”
Last month’s email to The Oregonian/OregonLive argued the article violated “my client’s rights of privacy and integrity” and that it included “inadequate allegations” about Babikian.
“The article was published in 2014 and has no value as for today,” the email said.
It’s not unusual to receive requests to remove or review older news on OregonLive. In fact, the newsroom started a “clean slate” program to allow people to request that we review and potentially remove articles about minor crimes from the distant past.
Because Manning’s article mentioned accusations, rather than official findings, we decided to find out how the allegations were resolved. Manning checked with the Securities and Exchange Commission and here’s what he found:
The findings at SEC.gov about the named defendant, John Babikian.
On July 7, 2014, the SEC announced that a federal judge in New York had found against Babikian and ordered $3.73 million in payments and penalties against him. Babikian consented to the final judgment “without admitting or denying the allegations in the SEC complaint,” according to the findings at SEC.gov.
And then it gets strange.
Manning noticed what appeared to be a news article online that reported the Babikian ruling was supposedly vacated and all charges dropped.
“It seemed weird to me,” said Manning, a longtime investigative reporter. “So I called the federal judge quoted in the story. Kelly Easton, judicial assistant for Judge Glenn Suddaby, at the U.S. District Court in Syracuse, N.Y., was not surprised by my call. They’ve gotten many similar calls inquiries about his Babikian ruling.
“But there is no such case and no such ruling.”
The judge has never heard a case involving Babikian, Manning was told, and the judge’s office has no idea why someone would randomly choose him to “quote.”
The article tried to lay the blame for Babikian’s woes on a messy divorce. It carries no byline and is not written in traditional newswriting style (“Mrs. Babikian was super ecstatically happy”).
Dated November 2022, the article quotes an executive at a “global PR firm.” But an executive by that name died in a plane crash almost 10 years ago.
The site that carried the article, the European Business Review, says on its website it accepts guest posts and receives “multiple submissions on a daily basis from contributors all over the world.”
“If you think you have an interesting story to tell, send us an email,” the site says.
I emailed the editors there, asking about how submissions are reviewed and fact checked. I did not hear back.
We don’t know whether this and similar articles were generated by humans or AI, but the rise of artificial intelligence means the potential for more and more authentic-looking news articles will undoubtedly increase. Add to this the increasing pace and vast scale of information distribution, and the potential for bad actors to spread misinformation quickly reaches a scope never seen before.
I responded to the sender of the “urgent legal request” email to ask a few questions. The email bounced back as undeliverable. Manning’s editor, Elliot Njus, searched for the name of the person who sent us the email. He could find no evidence of that person or the firm online.
Then, I contacted an attorney who represents Babikian in an ongoing Oregon court matter and asked him to let Babikian know I wanted to ask him some questions. The attorney told me his client would let the public record speak for itself.
We can find nothing in the public record other than the formal SEC findings, permanently barring Babikian from dealing in penny stocks and imposing penalties.
Manning’s initial story on the Oregon vineyard project was strange enough. Now, it has become curiouser and curiouser. Perhaps like a fine wine, the story continues to ripen.
