OPINION: Esquire Singapore’s Mackenyu feature uses AI to generate imagined interview responses

This wasn’t the first AI controversy in journalism, as newsrooms here and broad have normalized AI gimmicks.

Truth, really, is stranger than fiction. For its March cover story, Esquire Singapore used AI to generate interview answers from Japanese-American actor Mackenyu—because it couldn’t actually interview him.

In “Mackenyu in Resonance,” published on March 6 but only going viral this April, Joy Ling—the byline holder, not necessarily the “writer”—offers a curious explanation. The actor’s photo spread was ready, but there’s “nothing directly uttered” by him. An in-person interview was impossible due to scheduling conflicts, while a list of queries via email went unanswered.

Facing a “ticking clock,” the publication framed its solution as “inventive”: “Harnessing our creative license, we pulled his verbatim from previous interviews and fed them through an AI program to formulate new responses.” Notice how the use of “verbatim”—an adjective or adverb—only raises more suspicions. Hallucination yarn?

Enter: “Ghoulislop”

What emerges is fanfic at best and bullsh*t at worst.

The A.V. Club’s William Hughes calls the piece a “ghoulislop,” a combination of AI slop and ghoulishness. He says it’s a “little desperation play” attempting to “sound like a bold philosophical experiment,” a “staggering success in the field of journalistic and editorial failure.”

This isn’t an isolated case on journalism’s AI controversies. In January 2026, a New York Times freelancer used AI to write a book review that unknowingly plagiarized The Guardian’s review in August 2025. In May 2025, a Chicago Sun-Times freelancer used AI to create a reading list with imaginary titles. In November 2023, Sports Illustrated ran AI-written articles attributed to an AI persona that even had a headshot and a bio.

A slower burn in Philippine context

Here in the Philippines, for what it’s worth, the damage has so far been less severe. In February 2026, PhilSTAR L!fe published a how-to guide on the ChatGPT caricature trend using its staff members’ faces. In September 2023, GMA Network introduced AI sportscasters Maia and Marco for covering the NCCA. Be that as it may, these scandals show how AI gimmicks are becoming normalized in newsrooms.

In a fast-paced media environment, AI is increasingly framed as efficiency, a means to keep up with looming deadlines and constant output in the digital age. The temptation has become structural and harder to resist.

To be fair to Esquire Singapore, the pressure may have been difficult to ignore. A full cover shoot had already been completed, and editorial commitments or contractual obligations likely made backing out a no-no.

But that only sharpens the question on whether publication was the right call. The issue is no longer how the piece was made but whether it should’ve been published at all. With no interview—and no direct voice—from Mackenyu, shelving the story may have been the more responsible editorial decision.

After all, history shows that real journalism can thrive without shortcuts, without direct access, and especially without AI.

The gold standard: Literary journalism

Gay Talese’s “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” curiously for the original Esquire in April 1966, remains the gold standard. It’s a 15,000-word profile built even without a direct interview with the singer-actor. It relied on observation and accounts from more than 100 sources, including Frank’s entourage, ex-wife, haberdasher, bodyguard, and contemporaries. The result? A “deeply rich portrait of one of the era’s most guarded figures and tells a larger story about entertainment, celebrity, and America itself,” the editor’s note says.

Esquire Singapore says in its piece, “With the absence of information, can new insights be gained? Nature abhors a vacuum, and in its place, a story fills the hollow.” In this case, yes. Just with less AI and more humanity.

 

 

When a cover star doesn’t talk, should AI speak for them? Dive into the controversy surrounding Esquire Singapore’s “imagined” Mackenyu interview and why “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” still proves that real journalism doesn’t need shortcuts.

 

 

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