Law Scholar Suspended From Yale After AI-Generated Fake News Site Tied Her to Terrorist Organization

An international scholar working at Yale Law School was suspended from her position and temporarily barred from entering the university's campus due to a false report published by an artificial intelligence-powered news website that alleged her ties to a US-designated terrorist organization.

Helyeh Doutaghi, who has served as deputy director of the Law and Political Economy Project at Yale Law School since 2023, was placed on administrative leave last week and told by Yale not to advertise her connection to the institution. University officials notified her that the reason for her suspension was that her associations with groups subject to US sanctions had been discovered.

They were reportedly referring to Samidoun, an international pro-Palestinian advocacy group that has been labelled a terror group by US institutions.

"Today, in a joint action with Canada, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, or 'Samidoun,' a sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization," says a statement released by the US Treasury Department.

Doutaghi was suspended just days after the AI-powered news website Jewish Onliner published an article outlining her alleged ties to Samidoun, stating that she was a member of the organization, referring to her as a "terrorist" and making other allegations that Doutaghi has stated are unequivocally false.

While Doutaghi has repeatedly championed Palestinian liberation and pro-Palestine causes, she has reiterated that her support for Palestine is not indicative of involvement in organizations like Samidoun.

"I am a scholar," she told the New York Times. "I am not a member of any organization that would constitute a violation of U.S. law."

"This is the type of thing that happens under fascist dictatorships, which Donald Trump is trying to establish," she continued.

A spokesman for Yale Law released a statement regarding her suspension, "We take these allegations extremely seriously and immediately opened an investigation into the matter to ascertain the facts. Such an action is never initiated based on a person's protected speech."

Jewish Onliner admittedly uses AI to assist with research, fact-checking and rapid content creation, though the publication states that final edits made to articles are conducted by human staff members. However, the identities of these staff members are kept confidential for their protection.

Such AI-powered publications with the purpose of advocating on behalf of Israel and furthering the Zionist cause have been called into question by other Jewish and Israeli publications, such as Haaretz, which has questioned their purpose and reliability.

"Rather than investigate the source of these allegations first, the nation's 'top law school' accepted them at face value and shifted the burden of proof from the accuser to the accused," Doutaghi posted.

"[This] should cause profound concern to all defenders of free speech," she continued.