Fake News Story Claims WA Hotel Had Salmonella Outbreak

Editor's Note: The creator of the story at FoodPoisoningBulletin contacted us and stated that the story was not written by AI, but was due to an erroneous re-publication at the Lewiston Tribune.  FoodPoisoningBulletin states they do not, and have not ever, used AI for their stories.

This should be a warning for anyone who consumes news online about the dangers of misinformation from AI-written articles.

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Fake Story Says Quality Inn Hosts Private Party: 25 Sick with Salmonella

I noticed a report posted on foodpoisoningbulletin.com that was published yesterday (March 20, 2024) about 25 people getting sick with salmonella after a group ate "Mexican-style" food served at a banquette hosted at a Quality Inn located at 700 Port Dr in Clarkston, Washington. The report claims a banquette of 88 people was hosted on March 6, 2024, and both the Asotin County Health Department in Washington and the North Central Health District in Lewiston, Idaho are working together in the investigation because most of the infected are from Idaho.

As I started checking the information, I realized that Clarkston, Washington does not have a Quality Inn. The closest Quality Inn was across the river in Lewiston, Idaho and Clarkston only has a Holiday Inn. I immediately called the Asotin County Health Department trying to confirm the exact location of the outbreak and talked to Amy Finney, the Environmental Health Assistant.

No Current Reports of Any Salmonella Outbreak in Clarkston, Washington

Amy is part of the team responsible for food inspections and knows there have been no recent outbreaks like the one described in the article. Amy also confirmed Clarkston only has a Holiday Inn and not a Quality Inn, although that location used to be one. I immediately started digging and found a similar report from 2003 describing a very similar event. Amy Finney confirmed the details lined up with an outbreak in the same area almost 20 years ago to the day.

Since no author is named on the story, my best guess is that the story came from AI writing which companies have started utilizing more and more. I personally have had instances where my written content had been rewritten by AI and the company I work for sent cease and desist orders to make it stop.

Make sure you closely check the source of any story you are reading, and if something doesn't seem right it probably isn't. This sadly will happen more and more with the emergence of AI in content writing. If you are as concerned about this as I am, contact the companies you consume news from and let them know you do not support AI-generated content. Your local representative for Congress might not be a bad idea to share your thoughts with as well.