Reform MS refuses to say if post referring to the Senedd by the wrong name was written by AI

Emily Price

A Reform Member of the Senedd has refused to comment on whether he used AI to produce a social media post that referred to the Welsh Parliament by the wrong name.

Sir Gaerfyrddin MS Gareth Beer published a post to Facebook on Wednesday (October 14) lambasting Wales’ unreliable transport links.

However, in the post, Beer referred to Wales’ parliament as the “Senate” rather than the Senedd.

The post was “liked” on Facebook by his Reform colleague, Sir Fynwy Torfaen MS Laura Anne Jones.

Beer’s post stated: “The Reality: Getting to Cardiff Bay or the Senate by train or bus can take longer than flying to Malta.

“The Impact: Commuter disruptions, deterred investors, and higher costs for Welsh businesses.

“The Demand: Risks from flooding and erosion are already understood, and maintenance teams know what needs to be done.

“We need answers from the Minister: Why is this still stuck in planning, what work will actually be carried out on our road and rail networks, and when will people finally see action?”

Referring to the Senedd as the “Senate” is a mistake sometimes made by right-wing social media users and online trolls who are unfamiliar with Welsh devolution.

Misidentifying the Senedd as “the Senate” is also a frequent hallmark of AI-generated content or posts created by users relying on AI tools.

Nation.Cymru asked Beer if he had used AI to create his post, and if he was aware that the parliament he sits in is called the Senedd.

We also asked whether the Reform MS wrote all his own social media posts and whether he had any concerns about the quality of the content he was publishing.

Beer did not respond. But after we contacted his office, the Facebook post was altered so that used the correct name for Wales’ parliament.

In September, the Sir Gaerfyrddin MS refused to say whether he had signed off an error riddled press release on Wales’ latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results which was sent to Nation.Cymru by his office.

The correspondence included factual inaccuracies, spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, as well as awkward and unusual phrasing.

Nation.Cymru pointed out that the absence of figures in the press release raised questions, with its claims suggesting that whoever produced it may not have read the latest PISA results.

Beer’s Senedd staffer was asked to explain how the press release had been produced and whether the Reform MS had personally signed it off.

We did not receive a response.

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