AI-Generated Summer Reading List has Books That Don't Exist

telcodad

AI is a danger to the book world. Chicago Sun-Times AI summer reading list proved that.
An AI-generated summer reading list with fake titles appeared in a print insert in two major newspapers. It’s indicative of larger harms to book publishing and journalism.
By Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY - May 22, 2025
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2025/05/22/chicago-sun-times-summer-reading-list-ai/83790135007/

Last week, the Chicago Sun-Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a print insert with an AI-generated summer reading list from a third-party contributor. Several titles were made up. You won’t find “The Last Algorithm” by Andy Weir or “The Collector’s Piece” by Taylor Jenkins Reid in bookstores or libraries this summer because they don’t exist: https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/05/20/syndicated-content-sunday-print-sun-times-ai-misinformation

AI use is more common in workplaces than ever. Many argue it’s a train we can only get on, not stop. But in both the book world and the journalism industry, this kind of AI-generated content threatens and undermines the creativity that makes us readers in the first place. ….

Tshirt

Kind of sad (and scary) when trusted sources fail to verify before publication…

but promoting and publishing bullshit is so common now, from politics to “science” video, articles and proclamations (EO’s)

Sparkchaser

Tshirt trusted sources fail to verify before publication

Oh, that task has been given to an AI editor. 🙄

vaxvms

How many people would realize that?

From a 2023 editorial https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/re-ignite-reading-editorial

In the recently released report from the National Endowment for the Arts, only 48.5 percent of adults—fewer than half!—reported reading one or more books for pleasure in the past year.