Jody Serrano
Editor in chiefEditor in Chief at Xataka On. Before joining Webedia, I was a tech reporter at Gizmodo and The Messenger. While I've covered all sorts of things related to technology, I'm specialized in writing about social media, Internet culture, Twitch, and streamers.
There’s nothing like bringing along a good book to join you by the pool or under a colorful umbrella by the beach. If you took the advice of The Chicago-Sun Times when choosing your summer books, though, you’re out of luck.
More than half of the books on the list don’t exist.
An AI-generated summer reading list. The turmoil began on Sunday. That day, the May 18 print edition of The Chicago Sun-Times included a little something special: a guide to the “best the summer.”
However, instead of giving readers ideas on how to enjoy the summer months, all the special section has managed to do is give members of The Sun-Times’ newsroom a headache.
At the heart of the scandal is a reading list, which eagle-eyed readers and online sleuths quickly realized contained several books that didn’t exist. While the list did include the names of real authors, such as Isabel Allende and Percival Everett, neither wrote the books the article says that they did. In fact, out of the 15 book titles listed, only five actually exist.
“I went into my library's database of Chicago area newspapers to confirm this isn't fake, and it's not,” Kelly Jensen, an editor at Book Riot and a former librarian, said in a post directed at the news outlet on Bluesky. “Why the hell are you using ChatGPT to make up book titles? You used to have a books staff. Absolutely no fact checking?”
Click on the image to view the post on Bluesky.
The paper responds. The post from Jensen, and others like it, quickly spread on Bluesky on Tuesday, eventually prompting a response from the newspaper itself. The Sun-Times explained that the reading list was not editorial content, which means that it was not created by journalists on its staff, and that it was investigating the matter.
An official response was published on the outlet’s website just a few hours later.
In the response, Melissa Bell, CEO of Chicago Public Media, which oversees The Sun-Times and the radio station WBEZ, confirmed that the reading list had been created using AI. Bell added that the reading list had been licensed from King Features, a unit of Hearst, one of its content partners.
“It is unacceptable that this content was inaccurate, and it is equally unacceptable that we did not make it clear to readers that the section was produced outside the Sun-Times newsroom,” Bell said.
The CEO said that the paper’s subscribers would not be charged for the May 18 premium edition.
The “author” appears. Bell’s official statement included input from King Features, which revealed that it had terminated its relationship with the freelancer in charge of the reading list. King Features said the freelancer had not disclosed using AI to produce the story.
Although the statement did not disclose the freelancer’s name, 404Media reports that Marco Buscaglia, a writer, content strategist, and teacher based in Chicago, generated the list.
"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, according to 404Media. "On me 100 per cent and I'm completely embarrassed."
The reading list may not be the only piece of content in the guide generated by AI. Some users on social media have pointed out that experts included in pieces about food and gardening don’t appear to exist.
The Sun-Times said it was actively investigating whether the rest of the content in the special section insert.
In the background. Some might be asking why the newspaper didn’t simply get humans to write the reading list themselves. The possible answer: It doesn’t have that many working at the paper.
Back in March, The Sun-Times lost 20% of its staff, or close to three dozen employees, after offering them buyouts due to fiscal hardship.
Bottom line. As companies shrink their workforces, many may be considering turning to AI to fill the gap. The same is happening in the media industry, where some companies have begun to advertise “AI-assisted” roles.
However, what happened at The Sun-Times should serve as a cautionary tale. It takes years to build up trust and only one mistake to break it.
Image | S O C I A L . C U T
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