ZDF recalls correspondent after AI fiasco

ZDF is drawing personnel consequences after the “heute journal” broadcast a report with an AI scene and video material taken out of context. Foreign correspondent Nicola Albrecht, held responsible by the broadcaster for the breach of rules, will be recalled “with immediate effect,” ZDF announced on Friday.

AI sequence with watermark

The “heute journal” had broadcast a report on Sunday evening about the brutal actions of the US border police ICE against suspected illegal immigrants. It contained a video sequence in which alleged ICE police officers separate a mother from her children. The scene was marked with the watermark of the generative artificial intelligence “Sora.”

Another scene used in the report showed a US police officer escorting a minor. This is a case from 2022, when a teenager had threatened a school shooting in Florida. The scene is real, but old and has nothing to do with ICE.

After ZDF initially became entangled in contradictions and failed to provide a plausible explanation of events, news director Anne Gellinek clarified and apologized on “heute journal” on Tuesday evening. The broadcaster announced initial consequences. Employees are to be retrained on the use of AI material. The broadcaster also intends to review internal processes.

With the recall of the chief correspondent in New York, ZDF is now also drawing personnel consequences from the affair. After a longer and undisputed edited version of the report had already been broadcast on “Mittagsmagazin” the previous Friday, Nicola Albrecht had adapted it for “heute journal,” according to the broadcaster's official version. Albrecht had used “two video scenes from the internet.”

“The AI-generated material should not have been used without journalistic justification and without contextualization in accordance with ZDF's internal rules for the use of AI-generated material,” the broadcaster announced. “The editorial team of 'heute journal' should have noticed the AI-generated image sequence when approving the report.”

“The damage is great”

ZDF does not explain why and at whose instigation the report for “heute journal” had to be changed again. It also remains unclear who was responsible for approving the report at “heute journal.” The broadcaster is clearly trying to keep the scandal away from the presenter. “Dunja Hayali knew nothing about the technical errors in the report,” ZDF states.

After five days, the editor-in-chief of ZDF also takes a position, who bears the ultimate responsibility. “The damage caused by the disregard of journalistic rules is great. At its core, it is about the credibility of our reporting,” explains Bettina Schausten. “We are currently developing a catalog of measures to ensure with all rigor that the high journalistic standards to which we are committed are adhered to at all times and without restriction.”

(vbr)