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Chicago Sun-Times Sunday insert contains 10 AI-generated fake books in summer reading list
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/20/sun-times-sunday-insert-fake-books/Chicago Sun-Times Sunday insert contains 10 AI-generated fake books in summer reading list
By ROBERT CHANNICK | rchannick@chicagotribune.com | Chicago Tribune
UPDATED: May 21, 2025 at 11:06 AM CDT
(Audio at link)
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.
…
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 consciousness — and has been secretly influencing global events for years.”
…
“We’re deeply disturbed that AI-generated content was printed alongside our work,” the union said. “The fact that it was sixty-plus pages of this ‘content’ is very concerning — primarily for our relationship with our audience but also for our union’s jurisdiction.”
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