A syndicated supplement published in The Inquirer had AI-generated content, violating company policy

The syndication company that produced a 56-page feature supplement published by The Inquirer last week acknowledged Tuesday that some of the content, which included recommendations of nonexistent books, was AI-generated.

Gabriel Escobar, The Inquirer’s editor and senior vice president, said that using artificial intelligence to produce content is a “violation of our own internal policies and a serious breach.”

He added, “We are looking at ways to improve the vetting of content in these supplements going forward,” while also making clear that Inquirer news staff was not involved.

Though The Inquirer’s name is on the cover, the newsroom staff had no involvement in the editing or production of the “Heat Index” supplement, distributed by King Features, a syndicate that for decades has provided popular comics and features to publications across the country, including The Inquirer.

In a statement, King Features said that it also has a strict AI policy. It said “Heat Index” was the work of a “freelance content creator” who did not disclose the use of AI. The company will no longer work with the creator, it said.

Marco Buscaglia, who describes himself as a writer and “content creator,” acknowledged that he relied on AI to assemble the package for King Features back in February.

He said he regretted that he hadn’t vetted the information more carefully. “I should have taken more time,” he said Tuesday night. “I’m kicking myself.”

The Inquirer published “Heat Index” in its Thursday, May 15, print edition and the online e-edition. It has since been removed from the publishing system.

The syndicate said The Inquirer was among a “handful” of publications that had used the supplement.

That list included the Chicago Sun-Times, where the book recommendations generated considerable social-media buzz, as reported by 404 Media.

The 404 Media site noted that the supplement’s “Summer Reading List for 2025″ included a shout-out for Tidewater by Isabel Allende, described as a climate fiction novel. It also championed a science fiction book, The Last Algorithm by Andy Weir, among other fictitious literary works.

While both Allende and Weir are best-selling authors, neither has written books with those titles.

Among other errors it noted, the site also said that an article in the King Features publication on hammocks used journal references that evidently were fictitious or could not be verified.

The internet lit up with commentary about the issue.

Commenting on the supplement’s book list, one poster on the social media site Bluesky wrote: “They missed 2025 by George Orwell. A perceptive novel set in the near future (next month) when society has finally broken down to the extent that readers can no longer trust a word they are reading in once-valued newspapers."

Wrote another poster: “The irony is that lots of publishers would have loved to send info about upcoming books for a nationally syndicated summer reading list. What a waste!”

Said Buscaglia, “I really, really screwed up. I feel horrible. I put people in horrible positions, people at Kings, people at The Inquirer, at the Sun-Times.

“I know it’s not a great era for journalists. Other people are going to get judged for the shoddy job I did.”

This was hardly the first controversy over the use of erroneous artificial intelligence content.

In 2023, Sports Illustrated cut ties with a company that was producing online article under the bylines of nonexistent authors.