Librarians Tired of Being Accused of Hiding Secret Books That Were Made Up by AI

Summary

Everyone knows that AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Grok, and Gemini can often hallucinate sources. But for the folks tasked with helping the public find books and journal articles, the fake AI bullshit is really taking its toll. Librarians sound absolutely exhausted by the requests for titles that don’t exist, according to a new post from Scientific American. The magazine spoke with Sarah Falls, the chief of researcher engagement at the Library of Virginia, who estimates that about 15% of all emailed reference questions that they receive are generated by AI chatbots like ChatGPT. And the requests often include questions about fake citations. What’s more, Falls suggests that people don’t seem to believe librarians when they explain that a given record doesn’t exist, a trend that’s been reported elsewhere like 404 Media. Many people really believe their stupid chatbot over a human who specializes in finding reliable information day in and day out. A recent post from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) titled, “Important notice: AI generated archival reference,” provides more evidence that librarians are just exhausted with it all. “If a reference cannot be found, this does not mean that the ICRC is withholding information. Various situations may explain this, including incomplete citations, documents preserved in other institutions, or— increasingly—AI-generated hallucinations,” the organization said. “In such cases, you may need to look into the administrative history of the reference to determine whether it corresponds to a genuine archival source.” The year seems to have been filled with examples of fake books and journal articles created with AI. A freelance writer for the Chicago Sun-Times generated a summer reading list for the newspaper with 15 books to recommend. But ten of the books didn’t exist. The first report from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s so-called Make America Healthy Again commission was released in May. A week later, reporter...