The cases / Media / publishing
A syndicated summer guide in the Sun-Times recommended books that don't exist
What the AI said
A summer reading list with titles and summaries for books.
What was actually true
Many of the books don't exist. A later Sun-Times review found more errors in the 64-page section, including a quote attributed to chef Alice Waters that she never gave.
Cost or impact
Print subscribers were not charged for the edition, and it was removed from the e-paper. King Features ended its relationship with the freelancer. The Philadelphia Inquirer ran the same material.
Who caught it
unknown (not stated in the Sun-Times account)
Check that would have caught it Our analysis
human review. The writer said he 'just kind of republished this list'. One editor search per title would have caught it.
This is our judgment, not something the sources say. How we assign it.
Sources
- chicago.suntimes.comhttps://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/05/20/syndicated-content-sunday-print-sun-times-ai-misinformation
- chicago.suntimes.comhttps://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/05/29/special-section-king-fake-book-list-errors-sun-times-review
Links last checked Oct 24, 2026. If something here is wrong, send a correction.