Finnish newspaper publishes incorrect drone information due to AI tool error

Helsingin Sanomat has admitted publishing incorrect information about drones that fell in Finland after an AI tool misclassified a defence ministry alert, the newspaper reported on Sunday.

The publication initially claimed the drones were Russian in an article that remained online for three minutes. The same error also appeared in Ilta-Sanomat, another Finnish news outlet.

According to Helsingin Sanomat, the mistake occurred when its AI-powered tool automatically linked a Finnish Defence Ministry alert to Russia, despite the alert containing no mention of the country. The newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Erja Yläjärvi, stated that AI is used across all of the company’s news media to filter press releases.

Yläjärvi acknowledged that the alert was not verified in line with internal guidelines before publication due to the urgency of the situation. The error was corrected immediately, she said, adding that responsibility for the functionality and ethical use of such tools lies with the editor-in-chief.