Chicago Sun-Times Prints AI-Generated Summer Reading List With Books That Don’t Exist

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Artificial intelligence systems can make errors that humans wouldn’t. In the case of a recent post on the Chicago Sun-Times titled “The Best Summer Reading List for 2025,” relying on AI for content creation led to at least two inaccuracies. It’s important to use AI for research, spell check, and grammar, but trusting it to distinguish between real books and imagined ones is a mistake that can damage a writer’s credibility. While this may be a common occurrence, it’s crucial to ensure human oversight when creating content for human consumption.

Jenna Bush-Hager has been curating a summer reading list for children in recent years, offering a diverse selection for various age groups. While it’s intriguing to learn about her “hand-picked” process, the criteria for selecting titles and organizing them into monthly lists remain somewhat mysterious.

In a recent episode of First Edition, we discussed several intriguing new book releases for May. The positive listener feedback highlighted the interest in book-related content, indicating a promising avenue for future episodes.