{"id":924425,"date":"2026-10-07T20:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T20:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/924425\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T20:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T20:24:11","slug":"mumsnet-denies-using-ai-for-content-after-prompt-appears-on-message-board-mumsnet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/924425\/","title":{"rendered":"Mumsnet denies using AI for content after prompt appears on message board | Mumsnet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mumsnet has denied using AI to produce content after detailed instructions to help an AI model write one of its popular \u201cam I being unreasonable\u201d (AIBU) posts appeared on a Mumsnet<\/a> message board.<\/p>\n

Users of the long-established forum, which is known for its frank discussions of family tensions, were vexed when the AI prompt appeared in response to a user seeking advice about a family dilemma involving a neurodivergent uncle and a sick child.<\/p>\n

The user, called AmIAComplete, had asked for \u201ca sanity check\u201d from other users after an awkward social interaction with their brother\u2019s family but was met with a prompt titled AIBU Response Schema v.1.0.<\/p>\n

It instructed an AI to write an \u201cinterpersonal reasonableness\u201d post and \u201cgive a clear, forum-style ruling plus brief actionable advice\u201d. It included definitions of common Mumsnet abbreviations including AIBU, ND (neurodivergent) and DD (dear daughter).<\/p>\n

The prompt said: \u201cdo not diagnose anyone; do not demean ND people; do not imply a sick child owes social performance\u201d and said \u201cprioritize compassion, boundaries, and de-escalation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Site users called the emergence of the prompt \u201creally creepy\u201d, \u201ccrazy\u201d and \u201cso disappointing\u201d and it fed speculation about Mumsnet\u2019s use of AI, with one user saying: \u201cWe might as well just go and do something else then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mumsnet was founded in 2000. It faced a 19% drop in its monthly unique user numbers in 2025 to 6.1 million and the number of posts fell by 600,000. It said in its latest annual report that it was \u201cembedding AI tools to improve productivity and enhance the user experience\u201d.<\/p>\n

Recent research, published in Nature<\/a>, has shown that AI assistance in social media risks creating \u201csemantic garbage\u201d and is seen by users as less informative, \u201crobotic\u201d and \u201cgeneric\u201d.<\/p>\n

Soon after the prompt emerged, Mumsnet denied that it used AI to write threads and said it had come from a tool to suggest thread titles which uses an OpenAI model. But users refused to accept this explanation and some copied the prompt into an AI and found it generated a full post.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not idiots,\u201d said one user, MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack. \u201cPlease can you give us a transparent explanation?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mumsnet then said the prompt did not come from them and suggested it had somehow transferred from AmIAComplete\u2019s computer. Again users were unconvinced and speculated the prompt must have leaked from Mumsnet\u2019s internal system.<\/p>\n

Mumsnet\u2019s founder, Justine Roberts<\/a>, joined the thread and confirmed the prompt had come from its system, which sends users\u2019 drafts to OpenAI, which is meant to suggest a title, although this time it sent a prompt for a whole reply. She said it \u201clooks like an error on their side\u201d and said: \u201cWe don\u2019t use AI to write threads or replies on Mumsnet.\u201d<\/p>\n

This explanation also failed to appease users, who said they were being \u201cfobbed off\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhy would OpenAI compel itself to do\/try to do something so specific if it\u2019s never been asked to do that before from your side?\u201d said one. \u201cIt\u2019s like it\u2019s appeared in the wrong place. Rather than just sprung out of thin air.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t know anymore what\u2019s real and what isn\u2019t sometimes!\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

Roberts told the Guardian: \u201cI understand why it looked like it had \u2018appeared in the wrong place\u2019. But nothing in our systems asks for, stores or uses anything like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said Mumsnet had never tested a tool that drafted posts, but it used AI for coding, advertising operations, conversational analysis and flagging potentially problematic posts to moderators.<\/p>\n

\u201cMumsnet works because the people on it are real,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cMembers trust that the advice they get comes from other parents, not a machine \u2026 This episode was a useful reminder of two things. First, these systems are less predictable than the people selling them like to suggest. Second, users are understandably highly concerned that Mumsnet remains written by humans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mumsnet has denied using AI to produce content after detailed instructions to help an AI model write one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":924426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,276,277,49,48,61],"class_list":["post-924425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=924425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/924426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}