Uh we made them up
A US government report on children’s health cited “totally fabricated” studies to back up its findings, academics wrongly listed as the authors of those studies have said.
First released on 22 May, the report detailed causes of a “chronic disease crisis” among children in the US. An amended version was issued on 29 May after digital outlet NOTUS found it had used seven non-existent sources.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said there were “formatting issues” and the report would be updated, but it did “not negate the substance of the report”.
Uh, no, citing sources that don’t exist is not a “formatting issue” – and citing sources that don’t exist very much does negate whatever the “substance” of the report may be. Why? Because fakery=fakery. Fictional sources=a zero grade.
Katherine Keyes, an epidemiology professor who told news agency Reuters she was also wrongly named as an author, said: “It does make me concerned given that citation practices are an important part of conducting and reporting rigorous science.”
Because of course they are, because for one thing they’re a red flag for other cheating, and for another thing they cast doubt on the truth of the claims.
This sort of thing, interestingly, is a common side-effect of using AI to write a cited paper–ChatGPT and others of that ilk have regularly been discovered to make up citations at random. It would not surprise me in the least to learn that Trump’s team is using AI prompts to get reports that favor their positions.
I use an AI writer occasionally, just for shits n giggles, mostly. I always have to verify what it writes, amazing how many simple errors creep in, and I’m not “writing” scientific studies.
I don’t think I’d trust AI to tell me the time of day. Google searches now give an AI- generated response as the first result. A couple of weeks ago it informed me that the Universe contains 53 to 78 stars.
lol