Book community slams 'fake' list of summer reads as none of the books are real
Looking to sink your teeth into a great read for the summer? This summer reads list has irked the book community after publishing a list of novels partly generated by AI
Book fans are outraged after a US newspaper published a 2025 summer reading list full of books that no one can actually read. The problem? Almost all of the novels were AI -generated.
The scandal began after the listicle was published by the Chicago Sun Times on May 18 as an editorial insert titled The Heat Index. This included works by bestselling and award-winning authors, like Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo author Taylor Jenkins-Reid, Maggie O'Farrell, Min Lin Jee and 2025 Pulitzer-prize winner Percival Everett. However, book-lovers were quick to discover that there was something suspect about the novels. Namely, they didn't exist.
Though, perhaps the biggest scandal was how unimaginative the AI book titles were. According to the list, New York Times bestseller Brit Bennett had written 'Hurricane Season' (exploring 'family bonds tested by natural disasters') and Rebecca Makkai had published 'Boiling Point' (a climate activist is 'forced to reckon with her own environmental impact' after an argument with her teenage daughter).
Meanwhile, one attributed 'The Last Algorithm' to Andy Weir, an American sci-fi author perhaps best-known The Martian. Ironically, the fake book's plot summary described 'a programmer who discovers that an AI-system has developed consciousness – only to discover it has secretly been influencing global events for years.'
Social media book fans were quick to point out the inaccuracies. 'Hey @chicagosuntimes - what in the AI wrote this is this??? I can assure you, Maggie O'Farrell did not write Migrations. And I don't have enough characters to point out all of the other inaccuracies. Do better. You should have paid someone to write this,' 'Booktuber' Tina Books wrote on BlueSky.
Others accused the writer of using ChatGPT – which is prone to making 'hallucinations' – to write the text. 'I went into my library's database of Chicago area newspapers to confirm this isn't fake, and it's not. Why the hell are you using ChatGPT to make up book titles? You used to have a books staff. Absolutely no fact checking?' Book Riot editor Kelly Jensen wrote on BlueSky.
To add even more confusion to the mix, some of the book titles included were actually real, like Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman and Atonement by Ian McEwan.
The writer of the list admitted to 404 media that the article had been partly generated by AI. He said: "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 per cent and I'm completely embarrassed."
But how exactly did this pass into a news outlet? The vice-president of marketing at the Chicago Sun Times, Victor Lim, later told 404 Media that the Heat Index section had been licensed by the company King Features – which is owned by the magazine giant Hearst.
Lim said that no one from Chicago Public Media reviewed the section, as it came from a newspaper, so they 'falsely made the assumption' that there would be an editorial process already in place. He added that they would be updating this policy in future.
However, it's left many on social media feeling concern of AI usage in media. Reacting to the story, one TikTok user wrote: 'This is why AI cannot replace humans. You still need journalists, you still need actual book reviewers, and people who go to the theatre. AI is not meant to replace despite corporate greed.'
The union that represents editorial employees at the newspaper, The Sun-Times Guild, confirmed to CBC News that the summer guide was a syndicated section produced externally "without the knowledge of the members of our newsroom."
They added: "We're deeply disturbed that AI-generated content was printed alongside our work. The fact that it was sixty-plus pages of this 'content' is very concerning — primarily for our relationship with our audience but also for our union's jurisdiction."
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