Newspapers publish AI-generated recommendations of fake books

The Chicago Sun-Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer recently published a book list of mostly fake titles generated by artificial intelligence, or AI. The 15-book summer reading list, published by the Chicago paper on Sunday and the Philadelphia paper on Thursday, only contained five real titles.

Who’s responsible for the AI content? The faulty list was part of an insert syndicated by King Features, a subsidiary of the Hearst media giant. Chicago-based freelance writer Marco Buscaglia used AI to write the piece and did not fact-check it, he admitted to 404 Media.

King Features said Buscaglia had not disclosed his use of AI in stories. The syndicate was ending its relationship with him, it said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

What did the newspapers say about the incident? The Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday said it was unacceptable that the content was inaccurate and that it wasn’t clearly identified as coming from a third party. The paper said it was investigating the accuracy of other content in the insert and would review its relationship with King Features.

The Philadelphia Inquirer said the publication was a serious breach of its AI policies.