Is This the End of AI Shame?
The Wall Street Journal is defending the use of AI in op-eds after investor Stanley Druckenmiller admitted to using the technology to write his recent editorial. This incident highlights a shifting cultural and ethical landscape regarding the use of AI in professional journalism.
Why it matters
The acceptance of AI-generated content in major publications challenges traditional notions of authorship and journalistic integrity.
The Wall Street Journal is defending an op-ed written by a chatbot.
Illustration by Anna Ruch / The Atlantic. Source: Bloomberg / Getty. August 27, 2026, 6:12 PM ET Share Save There was a time—a more innocent age—when you could read an op-ed in a major newspaper and confidently say that a human had written it. Hold on to the memory of that for as long as you can.
This week, after the billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller published an editorial in The Wall Street Journal criticizing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, his onetime protégé, readers began to notice some familiar tics of AI writing. According to Pangram, the AI-detection tool, the op-ed was 100 percent AI-generated.
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