● Covered by 1 source · 1 reportMedium impact1 negative
AI-generated 'ghost' authors contaminate academic publishing and online content
Key points
- AI models repeatedly generate specific non-existent names for experts.
- These 'ghost' authors appear on hundreds of academic papers and online content.
- The phenomenon is due to correlated name priors in large language models.
- Researchers found 1,655 ghost-authored records on Zenodo.
Discovery of AI-Generated 'Ghost' Authors
A new preprint research paper, titled “The Ghost Couple: Correlated LLM Name Priors and Their Haunting of the Web and Academic Publishing,” from Samsung and the University of Warsaw, has identified a phenomenon where specific non-existent names are repeatedly generated by large language models (LLMs). These names, including Elena Vasquez and Marcus Chen, are appearing as co-authors on hundreds of AI-generated academic papers, articles, and books, despite the individuals never having lived.
Mechanism of Name Generation
The paper explains that certain LLMs exhibit a known tendency to produce the same names in specific contexts. For example, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude often generate the name Elias Thorne for fictional characters, frequently as a lighthouse keeper. Similarly, Marcus Chen is a common name generated for software developers. The research also found that LLMs produce “correlated character ensembles,” meaning some names are more likely to appear together, such as Elena Amara Okafor from Claude, Aris Thorne and Lena Petrova from Gemini, and Elara Voss from ChatGPT.
Impact on Academic and Online Content
The presence of these AI-generated 'ghost' authors poses a threat to the integrity of academic publishing and online information. Researchers were able to search academic databases and found 1,655 ghost-authored records on Zenodo, a CERN-operated repository. This issue extends beyond academia, as instances of these non-existent personalities, like 'executive director Dr. Elena Vasquez,' have been used to attribute false statements in online rumors.
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Primary sources
arXiv 2606.02184Reporting from
A new preprint research paper from Samsung and the University of Warsaw reveals that AI models consistently generate specific non-existent names, such as Elena Vasquez and Marcus Chen, which are then appearing as authors on hundreds of academic papers and online documents. This phenomenon highlights a growing issue of AI-generated content infiltrating and potentially compromising the integrity of academic and informational sources.