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Chicago Sun-Times Sunday insert contains 10 AI-generated fake books in summer reading list
Chicago Tribune ^ | 5/21/25 | Robert Channick

Posted on 05/30/2025 4:26:28 AM PDT by Libloather

A special section inserted into the Sunday Chicago Sun-Times featured page upon page of fun summer activities, including a list of 15 books to bring along while lounging by the pool or relaxing in a favorite reading spot.

The only problem: The authors are real, but most of the books don’t exist. Artificial intelligence, employed by a Chicago freelance writer, simply made them up.

Readers looking to fill their carts with titles such as “Tidewater Dreams” by Isabel Allende, “The Collector’s Piece” by Taylor Jenkins Reid or “Hurricane Season” by Brit Bennett were likely disappointed to find the elaborate plot summaries were themselves fictionalized.

Several news reports and a wave of social media backlash to the fake books followed, creating an early summer storm for the Sun-Times, which released a statement Tuesday.

“We are looking into how this made it into print as we speak,” the Sun-Times said. “This is licensed content that was not created by, or approved by, the Sun-Times newsroom, but it is unacceptable for any content we provide to our readers to be inaccurate. We value our readers’ trust in our reporting and take this very seriously.”

The 64-page full-color Sunday insert, “Heat Index,” is a summer entertainment guide featuring stories about everything from outdoor cooking and camping tips to “8 unforgettable summer drives across America.”

The summer reading list contains 10 fictional fiction titles, including “The Rainmakers” by Percival Everett, described as a near-future story set in the American West where “artificially induced rain has become a luxury commodity,” leading a “precipitation broker” to question the ethics of his profession.

Another fake book, “The Last Algorithm” by Andy Weir, is described as the latest science fiction thriller from the author of “The Martian” that “follows a programmer who discovers that an AI system has developed...

(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Education; Local News; Science
KEYWORDS: ai; books; chicago; fake; list; literature
I read fake books like I watch fake news.
1 posted on 05/30/2025 4:26:28 AM PDT by Libloather
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To: Libloather

I honestly thought the title mentioned fake b**bs.

I need me morning caffeine.


2 posted on 05/30/2025 4:28:58 AM PDT by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimer's!)
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To: Libloather

“Trust but verify”

I keep hearing stories of lawyers presenting cases that reference laws that don’t exist. College professors giving reading assignments to citations that don’t exist. Newspapers with reading lists of books that don’t exist.

If people are going to use AI to do the “heavy lifting” for their work, they could at least check the work, show some interest, be involved, take some responsibility for the quality. This is all extreme laziness.


3 posted on 05/30/2025 4:32:00 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: texas booster
fake b**bs.

I need to see some in order to determine if they are realistic or not.

4 posted on 05/30/2025 5:01:54 AM PDT by Sirius Lee ("Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.”)
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To: Libloather

“Chicago Sun-Times Sunday insert contains 10 AI-generated fake books in summer reading list”

Fake? Readers can have AI write the book and then read it. Boomers must have written the article. 😆


5 posted on 05/30/2025 5:15:18 AM PDT by TheDon (Remember the J6 political prisoners! Remember Ashli Babbitt!)
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To: ClearCase_guy
Yep, but the courts are getting serious about socking them with sanctions.

I remember the days when we had to verify citations in hard copy and check them through Shepard's . . . supplements came out weekly. Hard work with your head down.

LEXIS is a real timesaver, but I still check the hard copy!

6 posted on 05/30/2025 5:46:58 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ecce Crucem Domini, fugite partes adversae. Vicit Leo de Tribu Iuda, Radix David, Alleluia!)
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To: Libloather

Wait, so “Curious George and the Electric Fence”
was fake?


7 posted on 05/30/2025 5:58:52 AM PDT by TheThirdRuffian (Orange is the new brown)
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To: TheDon
This is licensed content that was not created by, or approved by, the Sun-Times newsroom

Yet, there it is in black and white right there in the paper.

8 posted on 05/30/2025 7:12:50 AM PDT by bgill
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...

9 posted on 05/30/2025 7:47:24 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (The moron troll Ted Holden believes that humans originated on Ganymede.)
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To: Libloather

I want to make a script to ‘read’ these books.

Maybe create a short summary.

Then I can report that I have read all of them, like a good liberal.


10 posted on 05/30/2025 9:02:03 AM PDT by Scrambler Bob (Running Rampant, and not endorsing nonsense; My pronoun is EXIT. And I am generally full of /S)
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To: bgill

So they had to pay somebody to come up with a list of fake books? Then another contractor had to approve it?


11 posted on 05/30/2025 4:01:47 PM PDT by scrabblehack
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