Did the Tribune publish an AI written op-ed?

I don't think so, but would it have mattered?

This week:

• A skeptical look at the accusation that the Tribune published an op-ed written by AI

• Last week’s winning quip

• News and Views — Hot takes, fully baked

• Land of Linkin’ — Where I tell readers where to go

• Squaring up the news — Where Charlie Meyerson tells readers where to go

• Media notes — The Chicago Tribune has a new managing editor and is trying to buy the Daily Herald; my discovery that the Chicago Contrarian found me “rarely objective”

• Quotables — A collection of compelling, sometimes appalling passages I’ve encountered lately

• Quips — The winning visual jokes and this week’s contest finalists

• What’s on “The Mincing Rascals” podcast this week

• Good Sports — I decry Olympics spoilers and fuss about how the games punish minor bobbles

• Green Light — For a new novel being called “a reverse Lolita tale”

Did the Tribune publish an op-ed that was written by AI?

My answer to the question in the headline is no, I don’t think so.

But the question itself — prompted by accusations floated on social media — intrigues me enough to wade into the general topic of prose generated by the large language models of artificial intelligence.

The background: Monday, the Tribune published an op-ed headlined “Why concrete barriers alone cannot fix Chicago’s Archer Avenue,” (gift link)

I read it over my morning coffee and thought it was a nicely wrought polemic about the dispute in the Brighton Park neighborhood over concrete barriers creating bicycle lanes on Archer Avenue. Given everything going on in the world, it’s not a controversy that particularly interests me, even though the tension between bike/pedestrian safety and the flow of automobile traffic is palpable and growing, and the Archer Avenue dustup portends similar disputes throughout the city and suburbs.

The writer first makes the case that “physical separators are simple geometric solutions that will save lives … the concrete barriers are nonnegotiable. … On paper, this project is 100% right.”

But he pivots into explaining that they are “often read as the harbinger of gentrification” and concludes that “instead of dismissing residents’ concerns about parking as mere resistance to progress, we must validate the deeper fear of displacement that lies beneath. … We need to repair the invisible, broken bridge between City Hall and the neighborhood. Unless we rebuild that trust, these bike lanes won’t connect us — they will only drive us further apart.”

John Greenfield, editor-in-chief of Streetsblog Chicago, a site that advocates “reducing dependence on private automobiles and improving conditions for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders,” objected in BlueSky posts to the premise that the community had not been adequately consulted about the project. He also contended that the writer, like most of the mainstream media, failed to understand the influence of outsiders in opposition to the project. He recommended “Archer Ave. Bike Lanes Tension Fuels Political Ambitions” in South Side Weekly for what he believes is a more balanced account.

But I was surprised to see Greenfield share a post from Scott Presslak, a Forest Park-based transit advocate showing that one AI-detection site had concluded that 99% of the essay was AI-generated. Presslak posted an image of the result to a StarLine Chicago a social media account that he manages for the “transit advocacy group focusing on improving suburban transit.” He followed up with a post referring to the piece as “AI slop.” Greenfield amplified this sentiment on social media with a post saying the op-ed “appears to have been ‘written’ by AI.”

I do not have a dog in the Archer Avenue fight, but I was intrigued by the AI accusation. It’s a murky one. A charge of plagiarism sticks when the accuser can show a previously published text side-by-side with the allegedly copied text. But since prose generated by AI is unique, programs that try to detect it draw inferences from such tells as repetitive and formulaic sentence structure.

And the op-ed did show a weakness for the “not this, but that” construction:

• Archer Avenue wasn’t just cold; it was heavy with tension.

• On paper, this project isn’t just necessary; it is an overdue victory.

• For many residents, those protected lanes aren’t a safety feature; they are a signal of invasion.

• The crisis on Archer Avenue isn’t a fight between bikes and cars; it is the widening chasm between the logic of those who draw the maps and the memory of those who live on them.

• These are not aesthetic choices; they are geometric truths.

• This is not chaos; it is the heartbeat of a functioning community

• To a city planner, a parking spot is simply 180 square feet of public right of way. But to a business owner who has weathered three decades on Archer Avenue, that spot is the threshold of their livelihood.

• Urban planning is not merely the management of space; it is the management of relationships.

But this may just be a writerly tic. I’m sure I have some of my own — my weakness for the em dash, said to be another AI tell — comes to mind. I reached out to the writer for comment through the email address at his website but did not hear back.

I also reached out to Tribune Editorial Page Editor Chris Jones for his reaction to the charge. He replied that Streetsblog Chicago’s John “Greenfield is a serial harasser of journalists who don't toe his dogmatic line, and a shamer, and I am appalled he has involved you in his shenanigans. I've dealt with him in good faith but this is just what he does. In my view, his tactics hurt his otherwise very viable cause and are not worthy of his intelligence and commitment. Streetsblog should repudiate at least Greenfield's darker edges."

For the record, Greenfield didn’t involve me in this; I contacted him after seeing the accusations on social media.

Another potentially mitigating factor: The writer appears to be a native of Turkey and programs that purport to be able to detect the influence of AI give a noticeably higher rate of false positives to the writings of non-native speakers of English.

That was one reason why Vanderbilt University discontinued the use of AI detectors, stating bluntly “we do not believe that AI detection software is an effective tool that should be used.”

I cut and pasted the text of the op-ed into the GPTzero AI detection site Presslak used and indeed got the same confidently accusatory result. Copyleaks returned an unambiguous indictment as well, finding the essay to be 100% AI written.

But a scan by My Detector found just 3% of the op-ed showed signs of the use of AI. Quillbot found just 5%, Free Ai Detector found 25% and Grammarly identified 27%.

I also asked several AI chatbots to scan the essay and tell me if it had been written by one of their own, an admittedly circular effort:

• Perplexity — “This piece strongly reads as human-written.”

• Gemini — “If I had to put money on it, I would say it was written by a human with the assistance of AI, or by a very skilled human writer who uses a modern, punchy digital style.”

• ChatGPT — “I’d say this was very likely written by a human, or at least heavily human-directed and edited.”

• Claude: “I think this was likely written by AI, though it’s a well-crafted piece that mimics human writing fairly effectively.”

In the end, I highly doubt that the writer asked AI to write a column for him about the Archer Avenue controversy that he then passed off as his own. He might have asked AI for suggestions or grammar hints, but that’s hardly irresponsible, particularly if English is not his native language.

The broader issue this highlights is that detecting AI prose has long been difficult — Vanderbilt’s decree came out in 2023 when AI was clumsier and more prone to generating formulaic writing than it is today — and it’s getting more difficult all the time as the programs get better at mimicking the charming irregularities of human composition and fooling those who try to detect their use.

“The quality (of AI writing) has reached a point where many professionals can't distinguish AI output from human work,” in the words of Matt Shumer, the CEO of an AI firm, who this week posted an alarming essay titled, “Something big is happening.”

The real question becomes philosophical: Does it matter?

If a human prompts AI to generate a specific argument, and then that human reviews the results and, perhaps with a few tweaks, presents the arguments as his or her own, is that wrong? Is it really much different than signing one’s name to the work of an anonymous ghost writer, something politicians and other prominent people do all the time?

Last week’s winning quip

When meeting someone new, there should be a grace period after which they tell us their names again. — @eleniZarro

Here are this week’s nominees and the winner of the Tuesday visual-jokes poll. Here is the direct link to the new poll.

News & Views

News: Trump administration denies federal disaster relief to Illinois related to storm damage last August

View: I’m seeing a partisan pattern here. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided disaster relief in 2025 when storms hit Mississippi, West Virginia, Texas, Alaska, North Dakota and Arkansas — states that voted for Trump in 2024 — and denied relief to Illinois, Colorado, Maryland, Washington and Vermont — states that voted for Democrat Kamala Harris.

Yes, Michigan and Wisconsin voted for Trump and were denied relief as well, but those states have Democratic governors. New Mexico, which voted for Harris, has a Democratic governor and got relief from FEMA, looks like the exception, but the feds drastically cut their aid money last year.

There may be defensible reasons for the denials and approvals in some states, but the pattern suggest that Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is mostly correct here — :

Let’s call this what this is: a politically motivated decision that punishes thousands of Illinois families in a critical moment of need. Playing politics with disaster relief funding is a new low, even for the Trump administration. Ignoring the realities of widespread damage from the August 2025 severe storms speaks volumes about the federal government’s vindictive priorities and complete disregard for American livelihoods.

— though I’m not sure it’s a “new low.”

News: Virginia gerrymanders the hell out of its political map in an effort to give Democrats a 10-1 advantage in its congressional delegation even though 46% of its voters backed Trump in 2024.

View: I agree with Texas Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz that the new map is “a brazen abuse of power & an insult to democracy.” I’m not even going to argue about which party started it or which party has gained more of an advantage from partisan gerrymandering (Republicans), but I’m only going to say that I hope cynical, undemocratic maneuvering that effectively disenfranchises great masses of voters will go on until the U.S. Supreme Court puts a stop to it.

News: “Ghislaine Maxwell Asks for Clemency in Exchange for Testimony That Will Prove Trump ‘Innocent’”

View: Because the public will trust the word of a convicted sex-trafficker who offers exculpatory testimony only in exchange for her freedom?

Land of Linkin’

• If you have not paid for a babysitter in a while (as my wife and I have not), you may be shocked at the average hourly fees sitters are getting these days (via Axios Chicago), even though Chicago is below the $29.87 average hourly fee to sit for two children.

• Long-beleaguered Gary (Indiana) is serious about the Bears. Are the Bears serious about Gary? (Tribune gift link)

• Harvard Business Review: “AI Doesn’t Reduce Work—It Intensifies It.”

• The Guardian: “FDA declines to review Moderna application for new flu vaccine.” The story notes, that the decision “could have implications for all new and updated vaccines in the US.” Still more evidence that the man some call “Bobby Brainworm” will cause mass deaths unless he’s stopped.

• The arrogance, brutality and mendacity of the federal agents who rampaged through Chicago scooping up brown-skinned people is on full display in Jason Meisner’s Tribune story and Jon Seidel’s Sun-Times story. Talk about the worst of the worst!

• From Tuesday’s Picayune Plus (become a supporter and get this issue delivered!)

• “The evolution of the White House account of Trump’s racist post, and still no apology.”

• My response to a reader who downplays the idea that there are “cracks” in the Republican base support for Trump.

• What does GPT stand for in “ChatGPT"? I tell all and raise an objection.

• A click survey on my opinion that coverage of the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping is excessive.

• Some are saying that this is the easiest NewsWheel puzzle I’ve ever posted.

Squaring up the news

This is a bonus supplement to the Land of Linkin’ from veteran radio, internet and newspaper journalist Charlie Meyerson. Each week, he offers a selection of intriguing links from his daily email news briefing Chicago Public Square, though since he is on vacation this week, I’m gleaning links from his always-active BlueSky account:

■ Tech Crunch: “Google expands tools to let users remove sensitive data about themselves from search.”

■ Rex Huppke at USA Today: “Trump’s schtick is wearing on Republicans, costing him his base.”

■ 404 Media: “With Ring, American Consumers Built a Surveillance Dragnet.”

■ Mark Jacob: “Addiction to access turns the media into collaborators.”

■ Jeff Tiedrich: “MAGA wins the Crybaby Bowl — Show us on the doll where Bad Bunny hurt you.”

You can (and should) subscribe to Chicago Public Square free here.

Media notes

Stacy St. Clair is the new managing editor of the Chicago Tribune.

St. Clair, 53, who is well liked and highly regarded in the newsroom, “replaces Phil Jurik, 65, who is stepping into a new role as an enterprise editor and writing coach at the Tribune after serving as managing editor for the last three years.”

A purchase offer for the Daily Herald

See you can spot the difference between the Sun-Times’ coverage of the attempted purchase of the northwest suburban daily and the Tribune’s coverage (gift link).

Here’s a hint:

• Sun-Times headline: “Chicago Tribune owner Alden wants to acquire publisher of northwest suburban Daily Herald.”

• Tribune headline: “Chicago Tribune offers 30% premium to buy Daily Herald suburban newspaper.”

That’s right. The Tribune story, which also references a weird, full-page ad in the Sunday paper touting the offer, never uses the A-word, “Alden,” as in Alden Global Capital, the flinty, opaque hedge fund that owns the Tribune and is clearly backing the offer. The Sun-Times story under the headline refers to Alden eight times.

It’s weird that the Tribune story didn’t acknowledge Alden and weird that the company took out a full-page ad to attempt to negotiate this deal in public. It’s also weird that, near as I can tell from its site, the Daily Herald hasn’t covered the story at all.

I’m not a fan of media consolidation, but if combining resources helps save the Herald and keeps local journalists employed, that’s a good thing.

Fox 32 political correspondent Paris Schutz is dropping his first full-length music album on Saturday

Check out videos of the Paris Schutz Band here. The dude is a seriously good pianist and singer.

WTTW-Ch. 11 needs to get its podcasting act together …

Theirs is the only podcast I subscribe to, out of dozens, where this kind of glitch regularly shows up:

… and the Sun-Times needs to get its digital replica act together.

Trying to swipe through the CST on my iPad routinely goes like this:

Fix it!

Just in case you don’t want to be dinged $16 for a newspaper supplement, a reminder to call and opt out

If you get the Sunday Tribune home delivered, you will be charged “up to $15.99” extra for regular “premium issues” tucked inside unless you call customer service at 312-546-7900 and ask to opt out. Last weekend, it looked like this:

The Tribune inserts “up to 16” such issues a year into Sunday home-delivery papers, meaning you may be paying some $250 annually for magazines that may not interest you. You are most welcome for the reminder that operators will oblige if you call and ask never to be charged again for these issues.

A thing I found while Googling other things

Former Daily News and Sun-Times columnist Sydney J. Harris (1917-1986) occasionally ran an odds-and-ends feature titled “Things I Learned While Looking Up Other Things.”

In that spirit, I pass along a passage I stumbled on when looking online for an old column. It’s a Dec. 31, 2021, Chicago Contrarian blog post from someone going by the name “Florian Sohnke.” The writer was belated celebrating my departure from the Tribune more than half a year earlier. Here is a representative excerpt:

Though (Zorn) often claimed to be a heterodox writer, his blind commitment to full-spectrum progressivism, combined with his vanity and moral preening revealed he was a deeply jaundiced Left-wing crusader, rarely objective, and consistently served as a reliable megaphone for liberalism.

A scolding about objectivity from the Chicago Contrarian! Reader, I will never recover.

But speaking of Harris, here are two quotes I found attributed to him while Googling other things:

• Superior people are only those who let it be discovered by others; the need to make it evident forfeits the very virtue they aspire to. (source)

• Terrorism is what we call the violence of the weak, and we condemn it; war is what we call the violence of the strong, and we glorify it. (source)

Quotables

A collection of compelling, sometimes appalling passages I’ve encountered lately

Young ladies, young ladies, I like ’em underage. Some say that’s statutory. But I say it’s mandatory. — Kid Rock, Super Bowl, right-wing alternative halftime performer, in his 2001 song “Cool, Daddy Cool.”

We at the Republican Party want a small federal government. So small it can squeeze into every aspect of your life. This will cost a lot of tax money. — @PleaseBeGneiss

Notice how the idiot telling us to “move on” from the Epstein files released six days ago never shuts up about an election that happened SIX YEARS AGO? — Betty Bowers

If the President intentionally approved the message containing viciously racist images, he should admit it. If he did not know of it originally, he should explain why he let his staff describe the public outcry over their transmission as fake outrage. Either way he should apologize. Our shock is real. So is our outrage. Nothing less than an unequivocal apology — to the nation and to the persons demeaned — is acceptable. And it must come immediately. — Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago

Most people named in the Epstein files are not being prosecuted for the simple reason that what appears there does not meet anything like the legal standards required for prosecution, let alone conviction. Being mentioned in an email, a contact list or a flight log may be morally damning and emotionally enraging, but it’s not evidence of a crime in the way the criminal justice system is actually supposed to require. It’s completely understandable to feel furious and to want accountability, especially given how grotesque the underlying crimes were. But a society in which the state could prosecute people on the basis of that material would be a society with far more aggressive police, far more empowered prosecutors, far fewer procedural safeguards, and far more people in prison. That is, not coincidentally, exactly the kind of carceral, discretion-heavy system that liberals insist they oppose … right up until the moment it promises to punish the people they most want punished. — Freddie deBoer

In one year, (Trump) has replaced Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with Disinformation, Executive Egotism, and Invincible Ignorance. When some of our Olympic skiers said they were troubled by the ICE maneuvers and other political tides, the Current Guy suggested they move to another country. He’s the one in the wrong country: he should try North Korea. — Garrison Keillor

The president’s frequent claim that every military strike on an alleged drug boat saves 25,000 American lives makes no sense at all. Even aside from the absence of proof for his highly contested claims that the drugs were a) fentanyl and b) heading to the US, the US recorded under 85,000 total overdose deaths last year. The president’s number is plainly absurd. — Daniel Dale, CNN

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro attempted to persuade a Grand Jury to indict me. This was in response to me organizing a 90-second video that simply quoted the law. Pirro did this at the direction of President Trump, who said repeatedly that I should be investigated, arrested, and hanged for sedition. Today, it was a grand jury of anonymous American citizens who upheld the rule of law and determined this case should not proceed (gift link). Hopefully, this ends this politicized investigation for good. But today wasn’t just an embarrassing day for the Administration. It was another sad day for our country. Because whether or not Pirro succeeded is not the point. It’s that President Trump continues to weaponize our justice system against his perceived enemies. It’s the kind of thing you see in a foreign country, not in the United States we know and love. — U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Michigan

Trump: “We can grow at 15%. I think more than that. ... We used to grow at 15%.” Factcheck: Not once in Trump’s lifetime has the US grown at 15% a year. Only once since World War II was GDP growth even double digits (13% in 1950). Historical average: 3.2%. — Peter Baker, New York Times

Quips

In Tuesday’s paid-subscriber editions, I present my favorite tweets that rely on visual humor. Subscribers then vote for their favorite. Here is the winner from this week’s contest:

The new nominees for Quip of the Week:

1. I feel like a lot of the Winter Olympic events started out as dares that got out of hand. — @TwinzerDad

2. The Super Bowl was originally a pagan holiday. — @dvdpeters

3. I can understand a Bad Bunny song easier than I can understand anything Eddie Vedder sings, and I don’t speak any Spanish. — @kimmymonte.bsky.social

4. The first rule of Condescension Club is complicated, and I don’t think you’d understand even if I explained it to you. — @mariana057

5. When someone asks for your help, saying “Legally, there’s nothing I can do” will give you an air of mystery and danger as you don’t do anything. — @jakevig.bsky.social

6. Me: Is this really necessary? Divorce Court Judge: I’d like to see it. *bailiff plays video of me doing the robot* — @viktorwinetrout.bsky.social

7. If science is so great, why do we have only one vegetable on the cob? — @itsabbyyep.bsky.social

8. Our very first Bring Your Pet to the Zoo Day will also be our very last Bring Your Pet to the Zoo Day. We don’t know what we were thinking … The Greeneville Zoo — @greenevillezoo.bsky.social

9. Me: So it rhymes with “baseline”? Inventor of Vaseline: “Oh, goodness no.” — @frovo.bsky.social

10. I hate it when you offer your seat to a pregnant woman on the bus and then it turns out she isn’t pregnant, or a woman, and you aren’t even on a bus, you’re alone at home making up things to get mad about. — @wheeltod.bsky.social

Vote here and check the current results in the poll.

Minced Words

Austin Berg, Steve Bertrand and I joined host John Williams on this week’s episode of “The Mincing Rascals” podcast. We talked about the cost of babysitting these days, all the craziness in Trumplandia, the importance (or lack thereof) of voter ID requirements and the issues involved in the ordinance that will authorize Chicagoans use cellphone photos to summon “meter maids”* to bus lane, bike lane and crosswalk parking violations.

Traffic lights:

• John — “The Man Who Broke Physics” (gift link), an article in The Atlantic about Ilia Malinin, figure skating’s “quad god,” by Sally Jenkins

• Eric — See below.

• Austin — “Trances,” a 1981 documentary film about the Moroccan avant-pop band Nass El Ghiwane available on Criterion.

• Steve — A green light for the book “The Feather Wars: And the Great Crusade to Save America’s Birds” by James H. McCommons. And a red light for the “Will Shat” Super Bowl ad for Raisin Bran in which the excremental plays on words — “duty,” “Shih Tzu” — helped Kellogg’s break the taste barrier:

Subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. Or bookmark this page. If you’re not a podcast listener, you can hear an edited version of the show at 8 p.m. most Saturday evenings on WGN-AM 720 look for the YouTube version that will be posted later in the week.

*Who says “meter maids” anymore? C’mon!

Good Sports

On behalf of those more interested in the Winter Olympics than I am, I am renewing my objection to how news sites prominently and immediately post results from the competitions in Italy even though the events themselves will not be telecast to prime-time American audiences for many hours.

Whether you think the results of events nobody cares about except once every four years qualify as “breaking news” or if you think they are basically the equivalent of the results to TV game shows recorded weeks or months ago, I hope you subscribe to the idea that it’s rude to publish spoilers where those casually surfing the news or social media can’t avoid them.

Considerate websites will simply post a link on their front pages and social feeds saying “Olympic results” for those who can’t wait to see them.

I’d also like to resurface my argument that the need for perfection at the Olympics is antithetical to the idea that athletic competition should reward sustained excellence, not perfection. Bowlers get to roll 10 frames, tournament golfers get to play 72 holes, World Series teams get seven games of nine innings each and so on — all in an effort to crown those who really are the best, not those who are lucky or steely enough to make the most of one chance.

A bowler can fail to pick up a split several times and still win the PBA Tournament of Champions. A golfer can spray a few drives into the tall grass and still win the British Open. A baseball player can fail to get a hit six out of 10 times at bat and still be named most valuable player of the World Series.

Properly, sporting achievement results from an intricate combination of successes and failures. And in the end, for those who fall short, there’s always next year.

At the Olympics, many athletes compete only for a few minutes in which one nervous twitch, one slight hesitation or mental error sends them slinking from the venue in humiliation and despair, more than 1,400 days yawning between them and a shot at redemption. Theirs are high-wire acts over a pit of ignominy, leading to those do-or-die, gold-or-guano moments.

Green Light

Green Light features recommendations from me and readers not only of songs — as in the former Tune of the Week post — but also of TV shows, streaming movies, books, podcasts and other diversions that, with only rare exceptions, can be enjoyed at home.

“Half His Age” is the just-published debut novel from Jennette McCurdy that The New York Times critic described as “a reverse Lolita tale that dares you to flinch, squeal and/or chuck your book out the window, but ultimately rewards the fearless reader.” The narrator is a girl in her late teens who pursues and has an affair with her married high-school writing teacher. It’s funny, vulgar, disturbing, unpredictable, insightful and very stylishly written. McCurdy, a former child actor, came to fame with her best-selling 2022 memoir “ I’m Glad My Mom Died,” a title that’s now on my list.

More about her and the book in “The Real Story Behind Jennette McCurdy’s Novel ‘Half His Age’” (New York Times gift link).

Info

I am a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. I began publishing the Picayune Sentinel on Sept. 9, 2021, roughly two and a half months after I took a buyout from the newspaper. Find a longer bio and contact information here. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise. Browse and search back issues here.

Contact

You can email me at ericzorn@gmail.com or by clicking here:

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