Chicago Sun-Times admits summer book guide included fake AI-generated titles

Those books that the Chicago Sun-Times recommended reading this summer?

Those books that the Chicago Sun-Times recommended reading this summer? You can stop looking for them.

The newspaper said Tuesday that several of the titles had been generated by AI and don’t actually exist.

“Heat Index: Your Guide to the Best of Summer,” published on Sunday, was created in part by a freelancer who works for a third-party company, according to the Sun-Times.

“To our great disappointment, that list was created through the use of an AI tool and recommended books that do not exist,” Melissa Bell, chief executive of Chicago Public Media, which runs the newspaper, said in a statement. "We are actively investigating the accuracy of other content in the special section."

The AI flub comes as industries like journalism fear that the rapidly developing technology could encroach on jobs formerly occupied by humans.