Steven Rosenbaum's May 2026 book 'The Future of Truth' contained AI-hallucinated quotations attributed to real people who never said them. A quote falsely attributed to tech journalist Kara Swisher described AI as "like a mirror" that "reflects our own morality back at us... but ultimately empty behind the surface" — Swisher told the New York Times she never said it. Researchers Lisa Feldman Barrett, Meredith Broussard and Lee McIntyre were also named as sources of fabricated or distorted quotes.
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Expert: Kara Swisher, Mike Masnick, Tech journalist / Techdirt founder A book whose entire thesis is that AI erodes collective truth turned out to contain AI-hallucinated quotes — and the author says that proves his point. In May 2026, Steven Rosenbaum's 'The Future of Truth' was found to include fabricated quotations attributed to real people. A quote describing AI as "like a mirror" that "reflects our own morality back at us... but ultimately empty behind the surface" was attributed to tech journalist Kara Swisher; she told the New York Times she never said it. Researchers Lisa Feldman Barrett, Meredith Broussard and Lee McIntyre were also cited as sources of fabricated or distorted statements. Wired retracted its 1,450-word excerpt after detection tools flagged the text, and Pangram flagged 53% of the full book as AI-generated and 9% as likely AI-assisted. Rosenbaum acknowledged using ChatGPT, Claude, NaturalReaders, ProWritingAid and Grammarly during research and editorial development. As Mike Masnick noted at Techdirt, the episode is a textbook case of the circular defense: a book about AI undermining truth was itself undermined by AI. The takeaway for readers: AI-assisted writing can insert plausible-sounding quotes attributed to real people, so claims in AI-generated text need exactly the same source verification as anything else. Source: https://www.techdirt.com/2026/05/21/ai-fabricated-quotes-in-a-book-about-ai-undermining-truth-the-author-says-this-proves-his-point/
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