Ghost Citations: How AI Hallucinations Broke PubMed

This episode discusses the alarming rise of AI-generated "ghost citations" in scientific literature, revealing that a significant number of papers in databases like PubMed contain fabricated references due to AI hallucinations. It explains how large language models generate these plausible yet fictional sources, posing a profound threat to scientific integrity and potentially impacting medical practice and public health. Listeners will learn about the mechanisms behind AI's creation of these fake citations and the systemic pressures that lead researchers to incorporate unverified AI output into their work.