{"id":85653,"date":"2026-05-20T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/?p=85653"},"modified":"2026-05-19T20:03:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T02:03:00","slug":"book-on-truth-in-the-age-of-a-i-contains-quotes-made-up-by-a-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/book-on-truth-in-the-age-of-a-i-contains-quotes-made-up-by-a-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Book on truth in the age of A.I. contains quotes made up by A.I."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Book<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The author of a nonfiction book about the effects of artificial intelligence on truth acknowledged on Monday that he had included numerous made-up or misattributed quotes concocted by A.I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author, Steven Rosenbaum, whose book \u201cThe Future of Truth\u201d was released this month to great fanfare, incorporated more than a half-dozen misattributed or fake quotes in sections of the book reviewed by The New York Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Times asked Mr. Rosenbaum about the quotes on Sunday and Monday. On Monday night, Mr. Rosenbaum acknowledged in a statement that the book had \u201ca handful of improperly attributed or synthetic quotes\u201d and said that he had started his own investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that the inclusion of the incorrect quotes was an accident and that he had \u201cno intention of fabricating any viewpoints\u201d while writing the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs I disclosed in the book\u2019s acknowledgments, I used A.I. tools ChatGPT and Claude during the research, writing and editing process,\u201d Mr. Rosenbaum said in the statement. \u201cThat does not excuse these errors, of which I take full responsibility. I am now working with the editors to thoroughly review and quickly correct any affected passages; any future editions will be corrected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Future of Truth\u201d was published by an imprint of BenBella Books and distributed by Simon and Schuster. BenBella Books, which operates independently of Simon and Schuster, did not respond to a request for comment. Simon and Schuster declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Rosenbaum is a well-known convener in the media industry. He is the executive director of the Sustainable Media Center, a nonprofit that, according to its mission statement, is dedicated to giving \u201ca new generation of media consumers\u201d and creators \u201cownership of their increasingly media-centric lives.\u201d The center has drawn together media and technology luminaries for in-person gatherings and online interviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book has drawn significant attention, including an excerpt in Wired magazine. It has promotional blurbs from prominent journalists such as Taylor Lorenz, Michael Wolff and Nicholas Thompson, the chief executive of The Atlantic. A foreword was written by Maria Ressa, a journalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner known for her scrutiny of Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rise of artificial intelligence has set off fears among publishers that they may accidentally release books from authors who improperly use A.I.-generated language. This year, Hachette pulled a forthcoming horror novel amid allegations that the author relied on A.I. to draft the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Rosenbaum\u2019s book contains many quotes that are accurate, but the misattributed and invented quotes are scattered throughout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the quotes is attributed to Kara Swisher, a prominent technology journalist, in a chapter about A.I. lies. \u201cThe most sophisticated A.I. language model is like a mirror,\u201d the book says Ms. Swisher wrote. \u201cIt reflects our own morality back at us, polished and articulate, but ultimately empty behind the surface. It\u2019s not bound by Asimov\u2019s laws or any ethical framework \u2014 it\u2019s bound by the patterns in its training data and the objectives set by its creators.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about the quote, Ms. Swisher said in a text message that she \u201cnever said that,\u201d adding that it seems the quote was made up by A.I. and not Mr. Rosenbaum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI also sound like I have a stick up my butt, according to ChatGPT,\u201d Ms. Swisher said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One chapter about the effects of social media and fabricated videos on teenagers attributes two quotes to \u201cHow Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain,\u201d by Lisa Feldman Barrett, a professor of psychology at Northeastern University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEmotions aren\u2019t just reactions to truth \u2014 they\u2019re how we construct truth,\u201d the book quotes Ms. Barrett as writing. \u201cWhen young people say something \u2018feels true,\u2019 they\u2019re describing a sophisticated process of meaning-making that integrates emotional and social signals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Barrett said in an email to The Times that the quotes \u201cdon\u2019t appear in the book and they are also wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would never say \u2018emotions aren\u2019t just reactions to the truth\u2019 \u2014 they are not reactions and \u2018truth\u2019 in science is a complicated concept that I tend to avoid,\u201d Ms. Barrett said. \u201cAlso, I would never say that \u2018emotional and social signals\u2019 are integrated \u2014 there are no emotional or social signals, per se. There are signals, and the brain creates their meaning as emotional or social.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some parts of the book contain genuine quotes that are improperly attributed, or quotations that are a mix of real and fake statements. One chapter cites \u201cArtificial Unintelligence,\u201d a book by Meredith Broussard, a professor at New York University. The quote is authentic, but it did not appear in \u201cArtificial Unintelligence\u201d \u2014 Ms. Broussard said it during a 2023 interview with \u201cMarketplace Tech,\u201d a daily radio show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt looks like this is either an A.I. hallucination or a misattributed quote,\u201d Ms. Broussard said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A chapter about the possibility of a \u201cpost-truth world\u201d exacerbated by the rise of artificial intelligence quotes Lee McIntyre, a research fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University. The book quotes Mr. McIntyre describing efforts to undermine truth as \u201c\u2018a form of ideological supremacy,\u2019 in which falsehood is used \u00adstrategically \u2014 \u2018not to misinform, but to displace truth as a societal value.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the first part of that quote is accurate, Mr. McIntyre said that he had not said the second part verbatim. All of the ideas in quotes flagged by The Times, he said, are \u201cconcordant with my work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the \u2018societal value\u2019 part this looks wonky to me,\u201d Mr. McIntyre said in an email to The Times. \u201cOne might say that about my work, without the quotation marks, and I think it would be OK. I just have never, to my knowledge, used that phrase.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his statement, Mr. Rosenbaum said that if the episode \u201cserves as a warning about the risks of A.I.-assisted research and verification, that is why I wrote the book.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese A.I. errors do not, in fact, diminish the larger questions that the book raises about truth, trust and A.I. and its impact on society, democracy and editorial,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n