If it isn't clear from this policy that Ars is run by the advertisers and not the subscribers, I don't know what would make it clear.

Advertisers only care about eyeballs and really bad press; AI increases the first and rarely causes the second.

My more cynical take is that this might be as subscriber driven as it's possible for a news outlet now. Keep an eye on 404 and see if they can resist the gravity of ads, I guess?