From Futurism · Victor Tangermann · · 1m 30s
Space Daily's fake experts pump out AI garbage
A once-respected space news site invented fake NASA engineers to publish misleading AI content at massive scale.
In brief
A once-respected space news site invented fake NASA engineers to publish misleading AI content at massive scale. Established publications can be gutted and repurposed as AI content mills by new owners, using invented expert personas to lend false credibility to low-quality automated writing. Originally reported by…
Respected space site becomes content mill
Space Daily, operating for over 30 years, was bought by Brown Brothers Media and transformed into an AI content farm averaging 10 million monthly page views.
Fake NASA engineer fronts AI articles
Dr. Katherine Chen was listed as a former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory systems engineer with 15 years designing autonomous systems. She doesn't exist.
Multiple invented experts exposed
Another fake author, Dr. James Whitfield, was claimed to be an aerospace medicine researcher at the European Space Agency. The ESA confirmed he never worked there.
“Mr. James Whitfield is not currently employed by the European Space Agency, nor do our records indicate that he has ever worked here in the past.”
Company admits to fake bylines
After investigation, Brown Brothers Media acknowledged using contributor bylines that didn't identify real people with false credentials, then deleted articles and stopped the practice in May 2026.
“Before May 2026, our publications used contributor bylines that did not identify real people, and some of those biographies included credentials that were not real.”
AI slop continues under new names
Space Daily still publishes low-quality content under vague bylines like Editorial Team or Mission Notes, including decade-old stories designed to game search algorithms.
Real people used as cover for AI
Chris Jeremia appears to be a meat proxy, with her name attached to fully AI-generated pieces about astrophysics, cuneiform tablets, and beluga whales across multiple Brown Brothers Media sites.
The big picture
Established publications can be gutted and repurposed as AI content mills by new owners, using invented expert personas to lend false credibility to low-quality automated writing.
