On Saturday I woke up, threw on my favorite “Do not talk to me about AI” t-shirt, plopped down on my couch, and opened Instagram to see I was tagged in a comment on a video made by Jack Osbourne, the famous rocker Ozzy’s son.

What could this be about? I thought to myself. It was a clip from a YouTube livestream, where Osbourne was reading a Rolling Stone article about the Tate brothers getting arrested—my article, one I wrote a couple weeks back. And to my horror, Osbourne was telling his audience that my article was generated by AI. So much for my t-shirt.

According to Osbourne, the dead giveaway was that I used em dashes, which he called “big hyphens.” Just like the one I used in the previous paragraph. But Osbourne said “no one in real life uses them,” and he even said there’s no key to type them with (I guess he’s never heard of a keyboard shortcut before). He then copied and pasted my article into an “AI detector,” which claimed 91% of my piece was “likely” AI-generated. Of course, that’s bunk. I didn’t use any form of AI to write or edit my piece. Those AI “detectors” are about as reliable as pulling a number out of a hat. But Osbourne and his commenters laid into me anyways, calling me lazy.

“Just busted Rolling Stone live on the internet,” Osbourne crowed. He posted this video on all his social media platforms, to more than 3.5 million followers.

When I saw the video, I was stunned. But I knew immediately what I had to do. I filmed a response that has since been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. I laid out my case: as I’ve written for Spitfire News over and over again, I don’t use AI to write articles. In fact, I’m pretty opposed to AI in general! I’m a recognized AI hater! I also had the Google Doc history of my article showing all the different versions I wrote myself. And I know a thing or two about those “big hyphens” Osbourne doesn’t believe in. But the precedent he’s reinforcing is dangerous, and I’ll get into that more shortly.

What I was hoping for is that Osbourne would see my response and at least delete his videos. A retraction and an apology would be nice, too. So far, nothing. I’ve emailed him multiple times to no avail. Dozens of people have left comments on his videos. He has apparently decided to ignore this, hoping it will go away.

Hundreds of people have also suggested I sue Osbourne for defamation, and I’ll walk you through what that would look like and why it probably isn’t the best course of action. I emailed with my lawyer this morning to confirm my reasoning here is sound. But I do appreciate the sentiment. Supporting my independent journalism is the most helpful thing for me at this stage, whether that’s via a Spitfire News subscription or even just liking and sharing my posts about this.