The Aporia · Behind the Blog: Freaking Out

Behind the Blog: Freaking Out

Read the original at 404 Media ↗

Cite

APA MLA Chicago

Cole, S. (2026, October 2). Behind the Blog: Freaking Out. 404 Media. https://www.404media.co/behind-the-blog-freaking-out/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

The article discusses behind-the-scenes thoughts on how news stories are developed, focusing on the rise of AI-generated content and emails directed at journalists. Joseph, a veteran journalist with over a decade of experience, notes an increase in what he calls "inbox slop"—emails purportedly offering tips or help but which he believes are actually generated by AI due to their unnatural use of language typical of human journalists.

Written by AI on 2026-10-02, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Samantha Cole from 404 Media discusses in her column "Behind the Blog" the increasing number of emails she receives on her Instagram account that appear to be written by AI. Joseph, one of her colleagues, notes a pattern where these messages are sent as if they contain useful tips or requests for help with issues like banned accounts. Joseph identifies these communications as likely generated by AI agents because they use repetitive and stereotypical language that the agents believe represents journalistic communication. However, as a seasoned journalist with over ten years of experience, he asserts that actual journalists do not speak in such a formulaic manner. This phenomenon suggests a growing trend of automated messages mimicking professional interactions online.

Written for “Behind The Blog Drama” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

0 of 6 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

95/100

404 Media's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Technology

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-10-02 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

404 Media · 177 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected

No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

Samantha Cole

27 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

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🔮 What developed over the next few days, and has now stretched across six months, is a Kafkaesque situation in which Smith, in her telling, is being asked to prove her innocence in an ongoing criminal case, while CashApp refuses to provide her any information about the account because she couldn’t prove that she was the owner.

2026-10-22 · assertive framing · This Woman's Living a CashApp Scam Nightmare

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🔮 I can tell this because the AI responses seem to keep using the same or similar words that it believes would apply to journalists, or are how journalists speak, but as a real, human journalist for more than ten years, I know that journalists don’t actually speak like that.

2026-10-02 · assertive framing · Behind the Blog: Freaking Out

Also by Samantha Cole

‘Wake Up Call:’ Fanfiction Writers and Readers React to AO3 Outage

2026-10-30 · 404 Media

Behind the Blog: Tech Support

2026-10-30 · 404 Media

Massive Fanfic Site Archive of Our Own Says It’s Going Down for 'Up to 4 Weeks'

2026-10-29 · 404 Media

Senators Demand Meta Answer for 'Pervert Glasses' Following 404 Media Investigation

2026-10-29 · 404 Media

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 27 articles by Samantha Cole →

Topics

Instagram

Subjects

Claude ORG · 1× Emanuel PERSON · 1× Instagram ORG · 1× JOSEPH PERSON · 1× Jason PERSON · 1×

Narrative

I can tell this because the AI responses seem to keep using the same or similar words that it believes would apply to journalists, or are how journalists speak, but as a real, human journalist for more than ten years, I know that journalists don’t actually speak like that.

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-02

2026-10-02 · 404 Media

Behind the Blog: Freaking Out · assertive framing

Claims (6 extracted, 0 hedged)

This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. asserted

few → share → week

This week, we discuss inbox slop, Claude cults, and more. asserted

we → discuss → slop

This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. asserted

I → think → while

Jason and Emanuel covered iLands, the AI agents that email people offering to do work. asserted

that → cover → work

For months, I’ve been noticing that many people email me ‘tips’ (I put in quotation marks because they’re sometimes not tips, but more, my Instagram account was banned, please help me) that are CLEARLY written by AI. asserted

that → notice → AI

journalists → tell → that