The Volokh Conspiracy
Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent
"Book on Machine Learning Is Full of Made-Up Citations"
So alleges Retraction Watch (Rita Aksenfeld):
Based on a tip from a reader, we checked 18 of the 46 citations in the book {Mastering Machine Learning: From Basics to Advanced}. Two-thirds of them either did not exist or had substantial errors….
The book's author, Govindakumar Madhavan, asked for an additional "week or two" to fully respond to our request for comment. He did not answer our questions asking if he used an LLM to generate text for the book. However, he told us, "reliably determining whether content (or an issue) is AI generated remains a challenge, as even human-written text can appear 'AI-like.' This challenge is only expected to grow, as LLMs … continue to advance in fluency and sophistication." …
When asked about the potential use of AI in the work, [Springer Nature senior communications manager Felicitas] Behrendt told us: "We are aware of the text and are currently looking into it." She did not comment on efforts taken during Springer Nature's editorial process to ensure its AI policies are followed….
