Key facts
- A detailed AI prompt for generating Mumsnet posts appeared on the forum.
- Mumsnet denies using AI to write threads or replies.
- The prompt instructed an AI on forum-style rulings, definitions, and compassionate advice.
- Users expressed concern and distrust over the prompt's appearance.
- Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts stated the prompt originated from their system as an error.
- Mumsnet uses AI for coding, advertising, and content moderation, not for generating user posts.
Mumsnet, a long-established forum known for discussions on family matters, has denied using artificial intelligence to generate content after a detailed AI prompt appeared on its message board. The prompt, titled "AIBU Response Schema v.1.0," appeared in response to a user seeking advice about a family dilemma and instructed an AI on how to write a forum-style post, including definitions of common Mumsnet abbreviations and guidelines for compassionate advice.
Users expressed significant dismay and suspicion, with some calling the emergence of the prompt "creepy" and "disappointing." Speculation grew that Mumsnet was using AI to create its popular "am I being unreasonable" (AIBU) threads, with one user stating, "We might as well just go and do something else then."
Mumsnet's latest annual report indicated it was "embedding AI tools to improve productivity and enhance the user experience." However, the company initially stated the prompt came from a tool suggesting thread titles that uses an OpenAI model. When users demonstrated that feeding the prompt into an AI generated a full post, Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts intervened. Roberts confirmed the prompt originated from Mumsnet's system, suggesting it was an error on OpenAI's side, and reiterated that Mumsnet does not use AI to write threads or replies. She stated that Mumsnet uses AI for coding, advertising operations, conversational analysis, and flagging problematic posts, but not for generating user-generated content.
Despite Roberts' explanation, some users remained unconvinced, feeling "fobbed off" and questioning how such a specific prompt would appear without prior prompting from Mumsnet. Roberts told The Guardian that "nothing in our systems asks for, stores or uses anything like it," emphasizing that Mumsnet's value lies in its human-generated content and that users are rightly concerned about its authenticity.