More than half of the articles published in the past three months on the fashion magazine Elle’s website were partially or fully generated by AI, according to an investigation by VRT NWS’s fact-checking team, as reported in the podcast ‘Het uur van de Waarheid’.
Ventures Media, a large media company, owns magazines such as Elle, Marie Claire, Psychologies, and Déco Idées. Recent articles on Elle’s website were attributed to authors named Marta Peeters and Sophie Vermeulen, amounting to over half of the March, April, and May publications. In June, 44 of the 46 online articles on Psychologies were created by an individual named Femke. Claire De Wilde is frequently listed as an author on Marie Claire.
The VRT NWS investigation revealed these profiles were fake. For instance, Sophie Vermeulen’s profile picture was sourced from ‘This Person Does Not Exist’, a site that generates non-existent human faces using AI. Her email was fake, and her image appears globally under different identities. Marta’s image was also AI-generated, with 99% certainty, according to ‘Sightengine.’
These profiles have since been deleted. A disclaimer now appears under the affected articles stating, “This content was generated with the help of AI.” Initially, Ventures Media claimed that the articles were “proofread and edited by the editorial team,” but this statement has been removed. The company told VRT NWS in an interview that the articles were part of a “test” and acknowledged making a mistake in presenting Femke as a psychologist. They have changed their approach to clarify when content is AI-generated.
The Flemish Association of Journalists states that journalists can use AI, provided they adhere to the ethical code. Journalistic works must meet high-quality standards with a chief editor accountable for the final content, and journalists must be transparent about AI usage while maintaining control over content quality.
