A summer reading list published by the Chicago Sun-Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer contained several fake books due to the use of artificial intelligence.
A print insert for the May 18 Chicago paper lists “15 titles—new and old—[which] promise to deliver the perfect summer escape. ”
Yet the first ten entries—despite being attributed to real authors—are non-existent.
The second title listed, Andy Weir’s The Last Algorithm, happens to be about artificial intelligence. According to the blurb, Weir’s “science-driven thriller” follows “a programmer who discovers that an AI system has developed consciousness—and has been secretly influencing global events for years.”
Perhaps AI has been secretly influencing the Sun-Times and other newspapers for years, disappointed readers suggested.
“Do they use AI consistently in their work? How did the editors … not catch this?” Reddit user xxxlovelit wrote. “As a subscriber, I am livid! What is the point of subscribing to a hard copy paper if they are just going to include AI slop too!?”
Tech publication 404 Media reported that the insert came from King Features, a subsidiary of Hearst.
The Chicago Sun-Times is owned by Chicago Public Media, whose vice president of marketing and communications, Victor Lim, told 404 Media that no one at CPM had reviewed the insert prior to publication.
“Historically, we don’t have editorial review from those mainly because it’s coming from a newspaper publisher, so we falsely made the assumption there would be an editorial process for this,” Lim said. “We are updating our policy to require internal editorial oversight over content like this.”
In a social media post, the Sun-Times said its newsroom was not at fault for the insert.
“It is not editorial content and was not created by, or approved by, the Sun-Times newsroom,” they wrote. “We value your trust in our reporting and take this very seriously.”
The writer of the insert, Marco Buscaglia, told 404 Media that he was “embarrassed” by the mistake.
“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,” he said. “On me 100 percent and I’m completely embarrassed.”
Buscaglia said the reading list was designed to be “generic and national,” and he didn’t know where else it would pop up.
As noted by writer/editor Joshua Friedman, the Philadelphia Inquirer published it as well.
The Inquirer had 65,000 print subscribers as of October 2023, while the Sun-Times had a 2022 circulation of just under 60,000.
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