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Writer Kate Gilgan acknowledged using ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Perplexity while developing and editing her New York Times Modern Love essay—but said she rewrote it herself and did not paste chatbot-generated prose into the published piece. The available account does not independently establish how much, if any, of the essay’s wording was generated by AI.
What sparked the accusation?
The essay at the center of the dispute appeared in the New York Times’ Modern Love column and described Gilgan losing custody of her young son during her alcoholism. Writer Becky Tuch publicly accused Gilgan of using AI to write it. Futurism’s April 9, 2026, interview with Gilgan reported that the initial accusation focused on the essay’s style rather than hard evidence. Online discussion also included AI-detector analyses, but Futurism cautioned that those tools are unreliable; neither stylistic impressions nor detector scores establish who wrote particular sentences. Futurism’s interview by Maggie Harrison Dupré is the source for the reported accusation and Gilgan’s response.
What did Gilgan say AI contributed?
Gilgan acknowledged using ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Perplexity for conceptualizing and editing. She described the chatbots as “first readers,” asking for feedback on the story arc, emotional tone and whether the essay seemed to blame her former husband unfairly. She said she revised the piece in response, but denied copying and pasting AI-generated text into it.
“I used it to help me stay rational and unemotional about a really emotional topic,” Gilgan told Futurism. She also described asking AI to gather information and help her make the essay publishable: “I asked AI, ‘Okay, boil this down for me. Take everything — every scrap of information on the internet that you can find — to help me get this essay published in the Times.’” These are Gilgan’s descriptions of her process, not independent verification of the essay’s textual origins.
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How did the essay begin?
Gilgan said the essay grew out of a novel she had drafted about losing custody and becoming sober. In her account, she wanted the shorter piece to help move the book toward publication. She told Futurism that she used AI feedback to assess how the story worked for readers, then rewrote the essay herself.
What did The New York Times say?
A Times spokesperson told Futurism that journalism at the newspaper “is inherently a human endeavor,” and “that will not change.” The spokesperson added, “As technology evolves, we are consistently assessing best practices for our newsroom.” Those remarks state the newspaper’s position as reported in the interview; the article does not provide a detailed Times policy document.
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What can—and can’t—be established from the account?
The interview documents an accusation, Gilgan’s account of using AI as an aid, and the Times’ statement about its newsroom. It does not include manuscript drafts, chatbot prompt histories, a line-by-line comparison or the newspaper’s internal editorial record. As a result, the precise amount of AI-generated wording, if any, and the full editing path cannot be independently determined from this reporting. The distinction matters: using AI for feedback is not the same claim as having AI write the published essay, and the available material does not resolve the latter question.
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