A message from the Anaconda Leader on the AI fake of our front page circulating on social media

It has come to our attention that an image has been circulating on social media purporting to be the top half of the front page of our Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026 print edition with the top story headlined “Indian Alliance to Restore Mount Haggin’s Indigenous Name,” accompanied by a photo of Mount Haggin and an article by “Montana Historian Rudy Rhubarb” about a fictional meeting to rename the landmark that was scheduled for March 1. The article offended some because there was some vulgar language in it. We do not condone or support the use of this language for public consumption and would not publish it. Our actual top story for that day was about charges that have recently been brought concerning the theft of the historic anode outside of Discover Anaconda.

Let us be clear: we did not publish this article. It was made by someone else through an AI platform and circulated online by people not affiliated with the Leader. To our knowledge, there is no such historian named Rudy Rhubarb and there is no effort being put forth to rename Mount Haggin. 

In this brave new world we are venturing into, this may happen again. If it does, here are a few ways to see if it is legitimate:

• Is the byline a name you recognize? Usually the only two bylines for articles you will see on the front page are that of our editor, James S. Rosien, or our copy editor, Kasey Edge-Faur. We frequently run articles from contributors, such as Kathy Ilene Lunde or J. Ray Haffey, but usually not on the front page.

• Are the paragraphs indented? This is a small thing, but the paragraphs in the fictional article were not indented, and it is our in-house style to always indent subsequent paragraphs after the first paragraph. The first letter of the article always is a drop cap.

• Is it on our website or in a physical paper you’re holding in your hands? If the name is familiar and the formatting of the article looks right, you can always double-check by going to our website, where we post e-editions and current articles of every issue. You can also pick up a physical copy of the paper to double-check.

We deeply value you, our readers, and regret any inconvenience this incident caused. Thank you for continuing to support local journalism.