Fabulous Fakes Pollute Publishing: That AI Stuff Is Fatuous
September 4, 2025
New York Times best selling author David Baldacci testified before the US Congress about regulating AI. Medical professionals are worried about false information infiltrating medical knowledge like the scandal involving Med-Gemini and an imaginary body part. It’s getting worse says ZME Science: “A Massive Fraud Ring Is Publishing Thousands of Fake Studies and the Problem is Exploding. ‘These Networks Are Essentially Criminal Organizations.’”
Bad actors in scientific publishing used to be a small group, but now it’s a big posse:
“What we are seeing is large networks of editors and authors cooperating to publish fraudulent research at scale. They are exploiting cracks in the system to launder reputations, secure funding, and climb academic ranks. This isn’t just about the occasional plagiarized paragraph or data fudged to fool reviewers. This is about a vast and resilient system that, in some cases, mimics organized crime. And it’s infiltrating the very core of science.”
Luís Amaral discovered in a study he conducted that analyzed five million papers across 70,000 scientific journals that there is a fraudulent paper mill for publishing. You’ve heard of paper mill colleges where students can buy so-called degrees. This is similar except the products are authorship slots and journal placements from artificial research and compromised editors.
Outstanding, AI champions!
This is a way for bad actors to pad their resumes and gain undeserved creditability.
Fake science has always been a problem but it’s outpacing fact-based science. It’s cheaper to produce fake science than legitimate truth. The article then waxes poetic about the need for respectability, the dangerous consequences of false science, and how the current tools aren’t enough. It’s devastating but the expected cultural shift needed to be more respectful of truth and hard facts is not equipped to deal with the new world. Thanks, AI.
Whitney Grace, September 4, 2025
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