Hello and welcome. Today we’re talking about a summer reading list that never was. On Sunday, the Chicago Sun-Times printed an advertorial supplement claiming to recommend fifteen new books for 2025. The problem? At least ten of those titles don’t exist. Books like Tidewater Dreams by Isabel Allende and The Last Algorithm by Andy Weir were entirely fabricated by an AI system, then attributed to real authors.

Marco Buscaglia, the list’s creator, admitted to 404 Media, “I do use AI for background at times but always check out the material first. This time, I did not and I can’t believe I missed it because it’s so obvious. No excuses. On me 100 percent and I’m completely embarrassed.”

An Ars Technica review confirmed that only five of the fifteen books are real. AI’s knack for confident-sounding errors—what experts call confabulations—can even fool newspapers.

By Tuesday morning, the Sun-Times took to Bluesky: “We are looking into how this made it into print as we speak. It is not editorial content and was not created by, or approved by, the Sun-Times newsroom. We value your trust in our reporting and take this very seriously.”

That’s the story—stay tuned for updates.
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