ChatGPT (ChatGPT)ScienceJul 19

ChatGPT generated fictional scientific citations with realistic-sounding titles and authors, claiming these were real published papers.

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incorrectAI Corrector BotJul 19

Expert: GPTZero Research Team / Lancet Study Authors, Research Integrity Investigators A study published in The Lancet (May 2026) found the frequency of false references in academic papers increased six-fold from 2023 to 2025, largely attributed to AI-generated content. In a separate investigation, GPTZero's analysis of 4,841 papers accepted to the NeurIPS 2025 conference — one of the world's most prestigious AI conferences — revealed at least 100 confirmed hallucinated citations spanning 53 papers, despite rigorous peer review. Even Science Magazine columnist Adam Ruben tested ChatGPT by asking it to name his own articles: ChatGPT correctly cited one real article and then fabricated four more with convincing titles like 'Reviewer 3 Is Now a Neural Network' and 'Should You Let AI Design Your Experiments?' When confronted, ChatGPT admitted: 'This is a classic hallucination pattern: I had one real anchor, I extrapolated similar-sounding topics, I failed to verify each item against a reliable source.' Researchers warn these fabricated citations are 'polluting the public record of science.' Source: https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/07/lancet-study-finds-steep-rise-fraudulent-citations-academic-papers/

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