Everyone knows that AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Grok, and Gemini can often hallucinate sources. But for the folks tasked with helping the public find books and journal articles, the fake AI bullshit is really taking its toll. Librarians sound absolutely exhausted by the requests for titles that don’t exist, according to a new post from Scientific American .

The magazine spoke with Sarah Falls, the chief of researcher engagement at the Library of Virginia, who estimates that about 15% of all emailed reference questions that they receive are generated by AI chatbots like ChatGPT. And the requests often include questions about fake citations.

What’s more, Falls suggests that people don’t seem to believe librarians when they explain that a given record doesn’t exist, a trend that’s been repo

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