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.
27 Articles
27 Articles
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…
Summer reading list featured in Chicago Sun-Times, Philadelphia Inquirer created by AI — and filled with nonexistent books
Content distributor King Features says it has fired a writer who used artificial intelligence to produce a story on summer reading recommendations that did not exist, and was in a special section distributed in Chicago Sun-Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer.
He Publishes on the Chigago Sun-Times a List of Books Recommended for the Summer but at Least Ten Do Not Exist: "My Bad, I Used AI but I Usually Check"
In the May 18 edition of the Chicago Sun-Times, under the title "Summer reading list for 2025" appeared a selection of fifteen titles recommended for the summer. A customary practice and expected for American magazines and newspapers. But something did not come back. To notice it was a user of the Bluesky platform: at least ten of the fifteen mentioned books do not exist. The names of the authors were true, Isabel Allende, Percival Everett, Min …
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