AI failures · Other
Associated Press automated earnings story reports Netflix shares down 71% for the year after a seven-for-one stock split
Verified Checked against its sources on 2 sources quoted
- Where it happened
- United States
- Organization
- Associated Press
- Date
- July 2015 (Netflix second-quarter 2015 results; error reported July 16, 2015)
- Function
- Journalism
- Where it happened
- Automated earnings article generation from market data feeds
- System
- AP's automated earnings-story system (the sources read do not name the software)
- Technology
- Rules-based automation (not AI)
- Type of failure
- Other
- Caught by
- The public, A journalist
Summary
In July 2015 the Associated Press's automated story on Netflix's second-quarter results, carried by AP and other outlets, said Netflix shares had fallen 71% since the start of the year. The shares had in fact more than doubled that year. Netflix had just split its stock seven for one, so the price of each share fell from around $700 to around $98 with no change in what holders owned, and the automated story evidently compared prices without adjusting for the split. Business Insider reported the error, crediting a social media account with spotting it. AP vice-president Lou Ferrara said that at the volume of earnings stories AP was generating, there might be an error from time to time.
Who caught it The public, A journalistFound outside the organization
Analysis
What could have been done
Inputs and source data are complete, current and fit for the use before the AI acts on them.
The automated story compared Netflix's post-split share price with its pre-split price without adjusting for the seven-for-one split, so a year in which the shares had more than doubled came out as a 71% fall.
Checking AI output against its sources
Every factual element of AI output (citations, figures, quotations) is checked against its source before reliance.
The automated story with the wrong 71% figure was carried by AP and other outlets; the error was spotted after publication by a social media account and reported in the press.
What would likely have prevented it
- Adjust market data for corporate actions such as stock splits before automated content is generated from it.
- Hold any automatically generated figure that moves beyond a set threshold, such as a share-price change above a set percentage, for a person to check before publication.
What would likely have caught it earlier
- Check a daily sample of published automated stories against the company's results release and an independently sourced, split-adjusted price series, and log any errors by cause.
Key dates
- October 16, 2026Checked against sources
- October 18, 2026Checked against sources
- October 20, 2026Checked against sources
- October 21, 2026Checked against sources
Developments are added when the record is reviewed. Next review: October 20, 2027.
Evidence
Each passage is quoted from its source. The quoted passages are re-checked against the live pages every month.
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AP and other news organisations that publish content generated using robot journalists, appeared to show that Netflix's Q2 earnings report showed the company was tanking hard, with a 71pc decrease in its share value, which differed from the truth
Supports: the erroneous 71% figure in AP automated content; the same article attributes it to the 7-for-1 split and quotes AP's Lou Ferrara
At that volume, there may be an error from time to time.
Supports: AP's Lou Ferrara on errors at volume
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Netflix shares have decreased 71% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen slightly more than 2%.
Supports: the AP automated sentence: the 71% was a since-January figure
On Wednesday, Netflix shares began trading on a split-adjusted basis. This means that every 1 share of Netflix you owned previously became 7 shares.
Supports: cause: the seven-for-one split took effect that day
And so while Netflix has seen shares more than double this year
Supports: the shares had more than doubled that year
(via @nycsouthpaw)
Supports: detection: Business Insider credits a social media account
Suggested citation. Eminence Scan, “Associated Press automated earnings story reports Netflix shares down 71% for the year after a seven-for-one stock split”, Eminence Growth Solutions, last verified October 20, 2026, https://eminencegrowthsolutions.com/tools/eminence-scan/record/fail-042/.
Using our research: you may read and quote Eminence Scan with credit to “Eminence Scan, Eminence Growth Solutions” and a link; all other rights reserved. Terms: Using our research.
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