2 major newspapers unknowingly publish AI book list with imaginary book titles
An AI-generated book list with imaginary book titles and nonexistent plots was published by two renowned newspapers — the Chicago Sun-Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The articles were published in the papers’ “Heat Index” special sections, a multipage insert filled with tips, advice and articles on summertime activities, The Washington Post reported.
Titled “Summer Reading List for 2025,” the roster recommended fake books by actual authors — such as “Tidewater Dreams” by Isabel Allende and “The Last Algorithm” by Andy Weir. Other authors with fabricated titles and stories included Brit Bennett, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Min Jin Lee and Rebecca Makkai.
Out of the 15 books in the list, only five were real, Poynter reported. Among the real were Françoise Sagan’s “Bonjour Tristesse” and André Aciman’s “Call Me by Your Name.”
The list was published on Sunday in the Sun-Times and on Thursday in the Inquirer. The article was syndicated by King Features, a service from the Hearst media company that produces comics, puzzles and supplemental material, according to the Post.
“It is unacceptable for any content we provide to our readers to be inaccurate. We value our readers’ trust in our reporting and take this very seriously,” Victor Lim, senior director of audience development for Chicago Public Media, said in a statement. “We’ve historically relied on content partners for this information, but given recent developments, it’s clear we must actively evaluate new processes and partnerships to ensure we continue meeting the full range of our readers’ needs.”
Lisa Hughes, publisher and CEO of the Philadelphia Inquirer, said the special section was removed from the e-edition after finding the mistake.
“Using artificial intelligence to produce content, as was apparently the case with some of the Heat Index material, is a violation of our own internal policies and a serious breach,” she said in a statement to the Post.
The AI article gained traction on social media after being shared by writers and podcasters who discovered the mistake in print.
“At a time when libraries and library budgets are being threatened every day, this is a slap in the face to anyone in the profession,” one post reads. “@phillyinquirer you could have called literally any library and someone would have been happy to put together this article for free. Where is the journalistic integrity???”
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Another post on Bluesky by Book Riot editor Kelly Jensen criticized the mistake.
“I went into my library’s database of Chicago area newspapers to confirm this isn’t fake, and it’s not,” Jensen said. “Why the hell are you using ChatGPT to make up book titles? You used to have a books staff. Absolutely no fact checking?”
I went into my library's database of Chicago area newspapers to confirm this isn't fake, and it's not.
@chicago.suntimes.com Why the hell are you using ChatGPT to make up book titles? You used to have a books staff. Absolutely no fact checking?
— kelly jensen (@heykellyjensen.bsky.social) May 20, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Marco Buscaglia, a Chicago-based freelance writer who used AI chatbots during the writing process, was responsible for the piece. He said the insert, which he began writing in February with a March deadline, wasn’t written with any specific cities in mind, and he didn’t know which newspapers would run it, according to the Post.
Buscaglia said there was “no excuse” for not double-checking his work.
“I’m very responsible about it. I do check things out, but in this case, I mean, I totally missed it,” he said about using AI in his reporting. “I feel like, if given the opportunity, I would approach these things differently and have a lot, you know, obviously better set of filters.”
In a Facebook post, he took full responsibility.
“I hate that this reflects poorly on journalists who do such great work and make sure their stories are accurate,” he said. ” I feel horrible about misleading readers with bad information.
“I’m not really sure I bounce back from this situation career-wise. I have a lot of stories left in me but I am fully accountable for what happened and will have to endure the effects, whatever they may be.”
Megan Swift is a TribLive reporter covering trending news in Western Pennsylvania. A Murrysville native, she joined the Trib full time in 2023 after serving as editor-in-chief of The Daily Collegian at Penn State. She previously worked as a Jim Borden Scholarship intern at the Trib for three summers. She can be reached at mswift@triblive.com.
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