The reporters at this news site are AI bots. OpenAI's super PAC appears to be funding it.

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TLDR

  • Acutus, an anonymously run AI-generated news site, published 94 articles attacking AI critics and appears linked to OpenAI’s $125M political operation.

Key Facts

  • 97% of Acutus articles flagged as AI-generated; site’s own source code reveals fields for “AI Background Context” and a “Generate Story Draft” button.
  • A fake reporter named “Michael Chen” sent interview requests from reporter@acutuswire.com; AI detection rated the emails fully AI-generated.
  • Republican PR firm president Patrick Hynes is linked to the site and is quoted in one of its articles without disclosure of the connection.
  • Acutus articles align with clients of Hynes’ firm Novus, including PhRMA, and overlap with OpenAI-backed super PAC Leading The Future via firm Targeted Victory.

Why It Matters

  • A site posing as independent journalism was apparently using AI bots to solicit quotes from real experts without disclosing its automated nature.
  • The funding trail connects an anonymous AI-generated outlet to a $125M political operation backing AI industry interests.

Tyler Johnston, The Midas Project · 2026-04-24 · Read the original