AI-generated pitches have become a familiar nuisance for reporters and editors, filling inboxes with irrelevant and often poorly matched story ideas. Nieman Lab reports that one food publication has decided it has had enough, telling prospective writers they can only pitch by phone from now on.
The decision is a blunt rejection of the current pitching culture, where email has made it easy to send mass, low-effort queries at scale. By requiring a phone call, the publication adds a human barrier that AI tools cannot easily cross, and it may also filter out freelancers who are unwilling or unable to make that kind of direct contact.
The approach is a drastic one, and it remains to be seen whether other outlets will follow. For now, it stands as a single, deliberate experiment in restoring friction to a process that automation has made noisy and impersonal.