Mediahuis, the Belgian-owned publisher of the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent, has suspended Peter Vandermeersch, a senior figure within the organization, following his admission of using artificial intelligence (AI) to generate content and, in some instances, fabricating quotes. The suspension was announced Thursday, according to reports in the Irish Times and Irish Independent.
Vandermeersch, who currently holds the position of Fellow “Journalism and Society” – a role he began five months ago – previously served as Ireland chief executive for Mediahuis from 2022 to 2025. He was publisher of the Irish organization, formerly known as Independent News & Media, from 2019 to 2022. The company has been under Mediahuis ownership since 2019.
The suspension follows an investigation by the Dutch newspaper NRC, similarly part of the Mediahuis group, which alleged that Vandermeersch published “dozens of quotes” that were demonstrably false. Vandermeersch preempted the findings with a post on his Substack newsletter, titled “I am admitting my mistake,” where he acknowledged his reliance on AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google Notebook.
According to NRC’s investigation, analysis of 53 blog posts written by Vandermeersch revealed that 15 contained quotes that could not be verified in the original sources he cited – including news articles and academic studies. Seven individuals quoted by Vandermeersch confirmed they never made the statements attributed to them, either in the cited publications or elsewhere. The investigation found “altogether…dozens of quotes” to be fabricated.
In his Substack post, Vandermeersch stated he “fell into the trap of hallucinations” while using AI to summarize reports on press and democracy. He admitted to presenting AI-generated summaries as accurate, and incorrectly attributing statements to individuals. “I summarised reports using AI tools and worked from those summaries, trusting they were accurate,” he wrote. “In doing so, I wrongly put words into people’s mouths, when I should have presented them as paraphrases. In some cases, it reflected my interpretation of their words. That was not just careless – it was wrong.”
Mediahuis Group Chief Executive Gert Ysebaert issued a statement saying, “this should never have happened.” Ysebaert affirmed that the company has established strict guidelines for AI usage, emphasizing the importance of diligence, human oversight, and transparency. “The fact that these principles were not followed runs counter to the standards we uphold and to our commitment to readers that we stand for reliable journalism,” he said. Ysebaert confirmed that eight of Vandermeersch’s articles have been removed from the independent.ie website and app, and that the company is discussing the matter with Vandermeersch and has temporarily suspended him from his current role.
Vandermeersch previously served as editor-in-chief of NRC for nine years in the 2010s. He has been contacted for further comment.