The LA Times’ new AI tool sympathized with the KKK. Its owner wasn’t aware until hours later

The Los Angeles Times’ billionaire owner, who unveiled an AI tool that generates opposing perspectives to be displayed on Opinion stories, was unaware the new tool had created pro-KKK arguments less than 24 hours after it launched — and hours after the AI comments had been taken down. The incident presents a massive hurdle for the Times as the newspaper looks to leverage the new suite of offerings to woo back old subscribers and win over new ones.

The Los Angeles Times’ billionaire owner, who unveiled an AI tool that generates opposing perspectives to be displayed on opinion stories, was unaware the new tool had created pro-KKK arguments less than 24 hours after it launched — and hours after the AI comments had been taken down. The incident presents a massive hurdle for the Times, which looks to win back old subscribers and woo new ones with a new suite of offerings. During an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Patrick Soon-Shiong, the Times’ executive chairman, admitted he had seen neither the piece nor the AI response. But he said the content’s removal showed that there are operational “checks and balances” to the recently introduced system, pegging the moment as a learning opportunity. “(The incident is) a good lesson to show that at least artificial intelligence is not fully there yet (…) it’s in an attempt to understand that,” Soon-Shiong said. On early Tuesday, the new AI tool generated counterpoints to a February 25 column from Times columnist Gustavo Arellano. Arellano’s column argued that Anaheim, California, ought to not forget the Ku Klux Klan’s role in its past — calling the white supremacist group “a stain on a place that likes to celebrate the positive” — and connecting it to today’s political landscape. But the divergent views generated by the Times’ AI produced a softer vision of the far-right group, which it called “‘white Protestant culture’ responding to societal changes rather than an explicitly hate-driven movement.” While the AI-generated comments have since been removed from the piece, and Arellano chimed in to say the “AI actually got that right” since “OCers have minimized the 1920s Klan as basically anti-racists since it happened,” the newspaper owner’s lack of awareness about the controversy is a glaring issue. Arellano’s piece is not the only one to have contained an AI-generated error or misleading comments within 24 hours of the AI tool’s introduction. An op-ed from Scott Jennings about President Donald Trump’s response to the Los Angeles wildfires came under scrutiny after the Times’ tool labeled the piece as centrist despite its right-leaning talking points. The story’s AI-generated counterperspective also failed to note that Trump had threatened to withhold federal aid to Los Angeles unless its leaders complied with specific demands.