US EditionNewspaper apologizes for AI-generated summer reading list with nonexistent books
- The Chicago Sun-Times published an AI-generated 2025 summer reading list including many nonexistent book titles, drawing major backlash in Chicago and beyond.
- The list was produced by a third party using artificial intelligence without newsroom approval, reflecting wider cuts and loss of expertise in book criticism.
- Out of the fifteen books suggested, just a third were genuine, with several fictitious titles falsely linked to authors such as Rebecca Makkai and Isabel Allende, surprising both writers and readers.
- Tony Elkins, a Poynter faculty co-author, described this as a 'massive screw-up' and stressed the need for AI ethics guidelines and training for all newsroom contributors.
- The incident highlights challenges posed by AI in media and raises concerns about accuracy, human oversight, and trust between newsrooms and their audiences.
36 Articles
36 Articles
Learning from an AI debacle - American Press Institute
Avoiding the slop Since it was revealed that two news organizations had published a syndicated summer reading supplement whose book titles and blurbs were made up by artificial intelligence, “blame AI” has been a common refrain. But while AI may have made up the book titles, the humans in the loop — or not in the loop — are ultimately accountable. And the experts weighing in on the case used it as an opportunity to call for more training for jo…
Artificial. But intelligent? Catholic summer must-reads
As Pope Leo XIV talks about AI at the Vatican, two U.S. newspapers were in hot water this week, after they published an AI-generated “summer reading list” — chock full of books that don’t actually exist.Don’t believe everything you read. Or even this lame robot-generated picture. It couldn’t be real — look at the feet!The phony list was composed by generative AI, at the behest of Chicago freelancer Marco Buscaglia. It was syndicated by King Synd…
Big city papers struggle with AI after fake books found on summer reading list
If you picked up the Chicago Sun-Times or another major newspaper recently and checked out the “Heat Index: Your Guide to the Best of Summer” book list, you might have had trouble finding many of the recommended titles. That’s because at least 10 of them, like "Tidewater Dreams" by Isabel Allende and "The Last Algorithm" by Andy Weir, don’t actually exist. The list, which also featured names of other well-known authors, was part of a special 56-…
Newspaper fires writer who used AI to create a summer reading list riddled with fake books
The recommended reading list contained some works of fiction. It also contained some works that were, in fact, actually fictional. The content distributor King Features says it has fired a writer who used artificial intelligence to produce a story on summer reading suggestions that contained books that didn’t exist. The list appeared in “Heat Index: Your Guide to the Best of Summer,” a special section distributed in Sunday’s Chicago Sun-Times an…
'Chicago Sun-Times' Slammed After Letting AI Generate Summer Reading List—Full Of Fake Book Titles
Though artificial intelligence has been around and mingling with our daily lives for years, it's been particularly prevalent in the last few years with the introduction of ChatGPT and other similar online tools. Publications have had to become increasingly mindful about where they source their information, as articles written by AI are often flawed, embellished, or a conglomeration of uncited sources. Major publications have also gained the pu…
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