A senior editor at The Times of London lamented a botched interview after a reporter was duped by a man posing as Bill de Blasio. In an email to staff, associate editor Ian Brunskill called the fake interview and an earlier AI-generated case study hoax humiliating, saying both harmed the paper’s reputation and were avoidable with basic checks. The Times retracted the piece and apologized; de Blasio said the quotes were entirely false and that he supports Zohran Mamdani. Semafor said the impostor was a Long Island wine importer who used ChatGPT to craft criticism.

Prepared by Lauren Mitchell and reviewed by editorial team.