Library patrons are requesting non-existent books and media hallucinated by AI systems, leading librarians around the country on a wild good chase. The unlikely source for the non-existent books are reading lists published by major newspapers that mixed in AI-generated titles with the real thing.
404 Media reports that Librarians find themselves with a new challenge beyond late returns and damaged books: dealing with patron requests for books and media that don’t exist after AI hallucinates titles that aren’t real — often attributing them to actual authors. Reference librarian Eddie Kristan has experienced this firsthand, with patrons asking for titles from AI-generated summer reading lists circulated in major newspapers. “It’s really, really frustrating, and it’s really setting us back as far as the community’s info literacy,” Kristan told 404 Media.
Breitbart News previously reported that the Chicago Sun-Times published a reading list in May that included many AI-hallucinated titles:
In a recent blunder that has raised concerns about the use of AI in journalism, the Chicago Sun-Times published a summer reading list for 2025 that included numerous fake books attributed to well-known authors. The list, which appeared in a 64-page advertorial supplement called “Heat Index,” was created by freelancer Marco Buscaglia using an AI system. Out of the 15 recommended titles, only five were found to be real books, while the remaining ten were completely fabricated.
The incident came to light when novelist Rachael King called attention to the error on social media, sparking a wave of criticism and disbelief. The Chicago Sun-Times quickly responded, stating that it is investigating the matter and emphasizing that the content was not created or approved by their newsroom. The newspaper’s union, the Sun-Times Guild, also expressed disturbance at the inclusion of AI-generated content alongside the work of humans.
This trend is not limited to physical libraries. Alison Macrina, executive director of Library Freedom Project, reports that early results from a survey on AI’s impact on libraries indicate a growing trust among patrons in their preferred generative AI tools and the outputs they receive. Librarians are being treated like robots over library reference chat, and patrons are becoming defensive when the veracity of AI-powered recommendations is questioned. It appears that more people are trusting their preferred language model over their human librarian.
To combat the issue of AI-hallucinated content, Kristan has developed a system. He searches for the presumed title in the library catalog and, if not found, checks the global library catalog WorldCat. If the title is still missing and presents itself as a traditional book, it raises suspicions of AI involvement. Connecting the title to platforms like Kindle Direct Publishing or learning that the patron’s source is an AI-powered chatbot confirms the likelihood of a hallucinated title.
The impact of AI extends to library technology providers, who are incorporating Large Language Models (LLMs) into library systems in the form of natural language search and AI-generated summaries. Jaime Taylor, an academic library resource management systems supervisor, warns that these tools are not as effective as advertised and can hinder the development of essential search skills among students and researchers.
AI hallucinations are a major problem in multiple industries. Breitbart News previously reported that one major law firm called the risk of AI hallucinations in legal documents “nauseatingly frightening:”
In an internal letter shared in a court filing, Morgan & Morgan’s chief transformation officer cautioned the firm’s more than 1,000 attorneys that citing fake AI-generated cases in court documents could lead to serious consequences, including potential termination. This warning comes after one of the firm’s lead attorneys, Rudwin Ayala, cited eight cases in a lawsuit against Walmart that were later discovered to have been generated by ChatGPT, an AI chatbot.
The incident has raised concerns about the growing use of AI tools in the legal profession and the potential risks associated with relying on these tools without proper verification. Walmart’s lawyers urged the court to consider sanctions against Morgan & Morgan, arguing that the cited cases “seemingly do not exist anywhere other than in the world of Artificial Intelligence.”
In response to the incident, Ayala was immediately removed from the case and replaced by his supervisor, T. Michael Morgan, Esq. Morgan expressed “great embarrassment” over the fake citations and agreed to pay all fees and expenses related to Walmart’s reply to the erroneous court filing. He emphasized that this incident should serve as a “cautionary tale” for both his firm and the legal community as a whole.
Read more at 404 Media here.
