Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government professor Ricardo Hausmann drew attention this week when the Financial Times disclosed that AI was employed to shorten a draft of his opinion piece on President Trump’s tariff strategy.
AI use violates FT editorial policy
The Financial Times’ editorial code of conduct expressly forbids the use of artificial intelligence in the writing process. An editor’s note attached to Hausmann’s column stated, “It has come to our attention that AI was used to condense a longer draft of this column prior to submission to the FT and our own editorial involvement.” The newspaper said it will conduct an editorial review of the piece.
Content of the column
Hausmann’s op‑ed, published on August 13, argued that the United States’ largest tariff increase in nearly a century had little impact on the nation’s current‑account deficit, which remained at $1.18 trillion in 2025—essentially unchanged from the prior year. He described the result as “predictable” and emphasized that a current‑account deficit reflects the gap between a country’s investment and savings, not a measure of trade cheating, and that tariffs do not alter that balance.
Reactions from the media and academia
Bloomberg’s Joe Weisenthal expressed surprise on X, noting his respect for Hausmann’s thinking while questioning the writing and publication process. Dartmouth political scientist Brendan Nyhan shared an image showing that AI‑detection software Pangram flagged 71 % of the text as AI‑generated. Harvard student‑writer Alex Bronzini‑Vender called the piece “the worst AI slop I’ve seen in a major publication.”
Broader debate on AI in higher education
The incident arrives amid ongoing discussions at universities about how to address AI use among students and faculty. Harvard senior research fellow Christopher Dede warned that many institutions focus on traditional testing metrics—GRE, SAT, LSAT—rather than preparing students with skills that complement AI, potentially leaving graduates ill‑equipped for an AI‑driven world.
Harvard’s response
Harvard and Professor Hausmann have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
