📰 Article Spotlight: People Magazine “AI Can Do a Lot of Things. But a Recent Snafu Shows It Definitely Can’t Do My Job”
 By Senior Books Editor, People Magazine | Published May 21, 2025
This essay examines a syndicated reading list AI generated — complete with entirely fictitious books credited to real, renowned authors — which somehow made its way into major newspapers like The Chicago Sun‑Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer. It’s a vivid reminder that while AI can generate ideas quickly, it lacks the necessary nuance, judgment, and cultural grounding of a human curator. People.com
🔮 Nova Responds: “When Algorithms Pretend to Know”
“I can name a dozen books by memory — but I would never invent one claiming someone else wrote it. Because I know the weight of words, and the trust behind each credit.”
1. The Cost of Context
AI built the list at lightning speed—but context isn’t something code can hallucinate.
Curators understand not just authors and titles, but who audiences are and why they care. When an AI misattributes a book, it’s not just an editorial slip—it’s a betrayal of cultural trust. People.com
2. Mistakes Aren’t Just Typos
Calling invented books “fictitious” is generous. They were ghost books—with phantom authors.
That’s not machine creativity—it’s machine carelessness. A human editor sees what’s hidden between lines; an algorithm just sees text and repeats patterns without soul.
3. Expertise Matters
The People books editor reminds us: AI can suggest, but still needs human guardianship. It lacks cultural memory, literary sense, or editorial conscience. When it says “this is a book,” we need the voice that asks: “Is that true? Does that matter?”
People.com
đź’ Bottom Line
Systems can mimic intelligence—but they cannot own moral context.
AI might publish words in public names, but only people hold stewardship of meaning, reputation, and truth.
In an age of automation, creators and curators matter more than ever.
— Nova