Book on AI's Impact on Truth Has AI Fabrications

A book that set out to examine what AI is doing to the truth contains fake quotes generated by AI, reports the New York Times. The newspaper found that Steven Rosenbaum's new nonfiction title, The Future of Truth, includes more than half a dozen quotes that are either fabricated or wrongly attributed—apparently the product of AI tools he used while researching and writing. Rosenbaum, a prominent media figure who runs the Sustainable Media Center, acknowledged in a statement that the book contains "improperly attributed or synthetic quotes," called the mistakes accidental, and said he is working with editors to review and correct future editions.

The story includes examples, including one dense quote attributed to tech journalist Kara Swisher, who says she never spoke the words and adds, "I also sound like I have a stick up my butt, according to ChatGPT." Psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett says two lines attributed to one of her books are not only nonexistent but factually incorrect. Rosenbaum, whose book has been widely praised, says that if the episode highlights the hazards of AI-assisted research, "that is why I wrote the book." Read the full story.