Important read by Nicholas Hune-Brown:

"Investigating a Possible Scammer in Journalism’s AI Era" (The Local)

On the surface it's about genAI slop. Going a little deeper, we have:

• trust
• how con artists tell us what we want to hear
• how even a little digging can shed light on the truth
• the extra scrutiny honest people will face because of scammers in the ranks

This idea of digging deeper and asking questions is fresh on my mind thanks to the recent First Brands Group meltdown. Several prospective lenders dodged a bullet there by performing basic due diligence. As I noted in this week's newsletter:

I'm sure First Brands had a good story, too. So good that lenders, including the folks at Jeffries, claim that there's no way they could have seen any trouble coming.

The thing with stories is that you don't have to accept them as-is. You can ask follow-up questions.

I'm not saying that "ask questions" will definitely uncover fraud. But it seems that "ask questions, then ask again when you get a weak answer" would be one hell of a start. Do you sense something is off? Keep digging. That's how you find out.

To close out, a line from Daniel Pennac's "La Fée Carabine" may serve as a guide. Loosely translated:

It's not about the answers they give. It's about the questions you have to ask.

A line that sticks with me in professional settings. Especially when performing assessments and due diligence.