The Chicago Sun-Times Published an AI-Generated Summer Reading List Full of Fake Books -- And This is Just the Beginning

[Nevilledog]

https://www.readtpa.com/p/the-chicago-sun-times-published-an

The Chicago Sun-Times just published a summer reading list with one major problem: most of the books don't exist. Titles like Tidewater Dreams by Isabel Allende and The Last Algorithm by Andy Weir sound plausible enough, but they're completely fictional—fabricated by AI and published without anyone catching the error. Of the fifteen books recommended in the list, a full ten of them are entirely made up.

According to 404 Media, Marco Buscaglia, who created the content, admitted that the list was AI-generated. "I do use AI for background at times but always check out the material first. This time, I did not and I can't believe I missed it because it's so obvious. No excuses," Buscaglia told 404 Media. "On me 100 percent and I'm completely embarrassed."

The article appeared in a 64-page promotional section called "Heat Index," which wasn't specific to Chicago but was designed as a generic insert for various publications across the country. Despite being published in the Sun-Times, it wasn't created or approved by the newspaper's editorial team. After the fake books were spotted and went viral on Bluesky, the Sun-Times posted: "We are looking into how this made it into print as we speak. It is not editorial content and was not created by, or approved by, the Sun-Times newsroom. We value your trust in our reporting and take this very seriously."

According to Ars Technica's analysis, only five of the fifteen recommended books in the list actually exist, with the rest being hallucinated titles falsely attributed to real authors. Books by Isabel Allende, Andy Weir, Brit Bennett, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Min Jin Lee, Percival Everett, Delia Owens, Rumaan Alam, Rebecca Makkai, and Maggie O'Farrell don't exist, while a handful of others mentioned are real.

This is exactly the kind of thing that happens when AI gets deployed as a way to cut costs. And it's going to keep happening.

*snip*

[ultralite001]

1. The kicker...

“1 do use AI for background at times but ALWAYS check out the material first.”

Cheat a little… cheat a lot…
Good luck w/ your writing…
Your integrity’s shot…

[surrealAmerican]

2. "A generic insert for various publications" turns out to be AI generated?

I would expect no less. This is the sort of insert that is predominantly advertising. It's almost better to have it be advertising for things that don't even exist.

[Jim__]

3. "According to Ars Technica's analysis, only five of the fifteen recommended books in the list actually exist, "

How does AI get it that wrong?