AI Fakes Medical Studies: Doctors Warn of Danger

Artificial intelligence is generating citations to medical research that does not exist, posing a threat to healthcare. A recent audit uncovered more than 4,000 biomedical papers that included references to non-existent studies. This alarming trend has seen a twelvefold increase in erroneous citations over the past three years.

These fabricated references are particularly dangerous because they can be incorporated into clinical guidelines. As these guidelines are based on published research relied upon by healthcare professionals, the inclusion of fake citations means doctors might base patient treatment decisions on studies that were never conducted. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that none of the identified errors have yet been corrected or retracted.