The Wall Street Journal is giving opinion authors the go-ahead to use AI in the writing process without requiring AI disclosures — a move by a top newspaper that feels like an inflection point for the media industry.
On Monday, the billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller, a former hedge fund manager and founder of Duquesne Capital, published an article in the Wall Street Journal‘s Opinion section titled “Let the Bond Market Speak.” The piece, which railed against the leadership of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, immediately drew attention due to Druckenmiller’s personal relationship with Bessent. But as the essay made the rounds, it also caught readers’ eyes for a completely different reason: many suspected it had been generated using AI.
Before long, commenters were posting analyses from the AI detection software Pangram and calling out “it’s not X, but Y” language and other “Claude-isms,” as one commenter put it, littered throughout the piece. Though the WSJ didn’t include any kind of disclaimer denoting AI use, Druckenmiller came out quickly to confirm that he indeed used AI to help form his argument.
“There’s a reason I moved from an English major to being an economics major,” Druckenmiller told NOTUS. “I’m not embarrassed by it… I write everything using AI now for the same reason I use a calculator when I do math problems.” Per NOTUS, he added that he doesn’t see why his AI use is “relevant,” given that the essay articulated his intended message.
