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The Chicago Sun-Times recently acknowledged that its summer book guide included fake, AI-generated titles. The list, which was syndicated and published in several newspapers, featured fictitious books attributed to real authors. Among the fabricated titles were "Tidewater Dreams" by Isabel Allende and "The Rainmakers" by Pulitzer Prize winner Percival Everett. Only five out of the fifteen titles on the list were genuine, including works by Ray Bradbury and Jess Walter.
The list was part of licensed content from King Features, a unit of Hearst Newspapers. Marco Buscaglia, the writer responsible for the list, admitted that AI was used to generate some of the content.
“Stupidly, and 100% on me, I just kind of republished this list that [an AI program] spit out,” Buscaglia said. “Usually, it’s something I wouldn’t do.
The publication of the inaccurate list has sparked criticism from readers and authors. Victor Lim, marketing director for the Chicago Sun-Times' parent company, Chicago Public Media, stated that the incident is under investigation. "We value our readers' trust in our reporting and take this very seriously," Lim said.