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Google Books and Scholar users beware: AI-generated nonsense is flooding search results

The book and academic search engines are including titles produced entirely by ChatGPT. Here's how to identify them.

For example, one book about the Boston Marathon bombing used the phrase "As of my last knowledge update in September 2021, the case continued to be subject to legal proceedings, and the ultimate outcome was still uncertain" when addressing the attack's perpetrators. When I plugged the same phrase into Google Scholar, which is supposed to be a repository for human research, 19 pages of results were returned, including papers on at-risk youth, diabetes, autism, COVID-19, and airline pilot fatigue. Speaking to 404 Media, Google said it would "continue to evaluate our approach as the world of book publishing evolves" but didn't mention removing these results from search.

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