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The New York Times ended its relationship with freelance book reviewer Alex Preston after a reader flagged language in his review of Watching Over Her that resembled an earlier Guardian review. The Times said Preston told it he had used an AI tool to help draft the review and failed to catch the overlap; Preston described the tool as an AI editing aid used improperly on a draft he had written. The paper added an editors’ note and called the combination of AI reliance and unattributed work a serious standards violation.
What happened with Alex Preston’s New York Times review?
The case concerned a Jan. 6 review of Jean-Baptiste Andrea’s novel Watching Over Her. A reader noticed similarities to a Guardian review of the same book, published the previous August. TheWrap reported the incident on March 30, 2026, after the Times investigated and spoke with Preston. TheWrap’s report says the Times also notified the Guardian.
The Times added an editors’ note identifying the AI use and linking to the Guardian review. A Times spokesperson said Preston would no longer write for the paper. TheWrap reported that Preston had written six Times reviews between 2021 and 2026.
What Preston and the Times said
Preston told TheWrap, “I used an ‘A.I. editing tool improperly on a draft I had written’” and said he failed to catch “overlapping language” from the Guardian review. He also said, “I took responsibility immediately and apologized to The New York Times.” These are Preston’s statements as quoted by TheWrap.
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The Times spokesperson said: “For staff journalists and freelance writers alike, reliance on A.I. and inclusion of unattributed work by another writer is a serious violation of The Times’s integrity and fundamental journalistic standards.” Preston was a freelancer, not a Times staff journalist.
What the incident establishes—and what it does not
The account supports that the Times attributed the overlap to the AI tool’s output and Preston’s failure to catch it, while Preston accepted responsibility for using an AI editing tool improperly. It does not establish that all of Preston’s work involved AI: he told TheWrap he had not used AI to help draft his other stories.
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The reporting does not establish the technical mechanism behind the resemblance. It is not possible from these accounts to say whether the overlap arose through retrieval, prompting, training data, or another process. Nor is there evidence that an AI detector discovered the similarity. The documented trigger was a reader’s observation, followed by the Times’s investigation.
Why the case became part of a wider Times AI debate
The incident landed amid contract negotiations between The New York Times and the NewsGuild of New York, whose AI subcommittee sought clearer rules for how AI may be used and disclosed. Axios reported that a Guild letter described the union as representing 1,500 members. TheWrap’s April 8 follow-up reported that the Guild viewed public guidance as unclear or open to interpretation and wanted the company to explain more plainly how AI is used in stories.
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The Guild’s concerns extended beyond story disclosure. According to Axios’s April 7 report, members also sought safeguards around AI use in performance reviews and protections for staff names, images, and likenesses. The Guild’s AI subcommittee argued that when the Times publishes AI-generated work, “intentionally or not,” readers lose trust.
Management said it supported strong standards but opposed putting detailed restrictions into a multi-year contract while the technology changes quickly. Managing Editor Marc Lacey wrote, as quoted by TheWrap: “AI technology is ceaselessly evolving – quickly – and we believe that this rapid change is precisely why we must remain flexible.” The April reporting records the parties’ negotiating positions; it does not show that they reached a final policy settlement.
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The unresolved policy questions
- Disclosure: When should a writer or newsroom tell readers that AI contributed to a story?
- Drafting versus editing: Should rules distinguish AI that generates passages from tools used to edit or refine a human-written draft?
- Human review and accountability: Who is responsible for checking AI-assisted work for borrowed language, errors, and attribution?
- Worker protections: What safeguards should apply when AI is used in performance evaluations or with employees’ names, images, and likenesses?
- Durability: How can a contract set meaningful limits without freezing rules as tools change?
The Guild’s position emphasizes clearer disclosure and protections; management’s stated concern is retaining flexibility. The coverage does not establish an agreed answer to these questions.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Can an AI detector prove a writer used AI?
No. Detector scores are not proof of authorship, and they do not establish copying. The Atlantic’s reporting on a separate Modern Love column by Kate Gilgan illustrates how widely tools can disagree: Pangram estimated that more than 60 percent of the column was AI-generated, two other tools flagged 30 percent as likely AI-generated, one found no AI, and another suspected AI without giving a percentage. Those estimates concern Gilgan’s column, not Preston’s review.
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The Atlantic’s March 25 account reported that detectors can flag human writing, miss AI-generated material, and produce inconsistent results. Their estimates of how much of a text is AI-generated are difficult to verify with certainty. A detector score therefore cannot establish what happened in Preston’s case.
A separate Times contributor example
The Atlantic also reported that Modern Love contributor Kate Gilgan acknowledged using AI for inspiration, guidance, and correction. Gilgan characterized it as “a collaborative editor and not as a content generator.” The Times spokesperson said freelancer contracts require AI use to follow established journalistic standards and editing processes, and that substantial generative AI use should be disclosed. This is a separate example with different facts; it should not be conflated with the Preston review.
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