The gambling industry's been paying close attention to investigative journalist Michael Schmitt, and for good reason. It's now confirmed that videos published under his name feature an AI-generated avatar, not the man himself.

Schmitt writes for Malta Media, and he first grabbed the sector's attention when his LinkedIn profile vanished earlier this year. Thing is, articles kept appearing on the publication's website with his byline attached. Then in early July, videos allegedly showing Schmitt started doing the rounds online. That's when things got properly difficult to ignore.

A Pattern of Gaps and Questions

The earliest AI video showed up on Schmitt's X account on July 4. A few days later, on July 6, Tribune (a digital sports media platform) reached out to ask about these videos. No response. Tribune circled back after more content appeared on Malta Media's LinkedIn page.

Why does this matter? Schmitt's work has focused on the shadowy bits of the gambling business. His investigations have dug into financial arrangements, corporate ownership structures, and business relationships across the sector. Connections involving Midas Entertainment, the restructuring at Tipico, the dispute between Evolution, Playtech and Black Cube. That's proper journalism covering real industry issues.

Verification Issues Remain Unresolved

On October 12, Tribune contacted Malta Media directly. They wanted to know about Schmitt's wellbeing and whether the videos were genuine. A response came back from Malta Media's general email address, signed by someone claiming to be Michael Schmitt, executive editor. He said he was fine and acknowledged the videos used his AI avatar.

Here's where it gets strange. Tribune asked for a quick call to verify this. Standard journalistic procedure, really. The response was, frankly, surprising. Malta Media offered an unrecorded video call or other reliable confirmation methods. Then they went silent.

The lack of any independent verification is striking. It doesn't necessarily mean Schmitt's been impersonated or that he's in any kind of danger. But the whole setup does raise genuine questions about content attribution and how publications are handling this sort of thing.

The Broader Context

Schmitt's latest work included a piece criticizing cybersecurity researcher Lilith Wittmann's investigation into Curaçao's gambling regulator, published in September. Malta Media questioned Wittmann's methods and said it would contact data protection authorities and prosecutors. Whether Schmitt actually wrote that, or under what circumstances, now sits in much murkier territory.

The industry depends on transparency and accountability from journalists covering it. Once the authorship and authenticity of that coverage becomes fuzzy, everyone pays the price. Malta Media needs to sort this out and sort it out properly.