From Retraction Watch:
Based on a tip from a reader, we checked 18 of the 46 citations in [Mastering Machine Learning: From Basic to Advanced]. Two-thirds of them either did not exist or had substantial errors. And three researchers cited in the book confirmed the works they supposedly authored were fake or the citation contained substantial errors. [Another] researcher had received an alert from Google Scholar about the book, which cited him. While his name appeared on multiple citations, the cited works do not exist.
What, 46 citations? In a science book? That’s about as patently ridiculous as most of them being made-up or wrong.
On the other hand, what can you expect from a minor publisher’s cheap book for the miserly price of $169!
The book’s author, Govindakumar Madhavan, asked for an additional “week or two” to fully respond to our request for comment. He did not answer our questions asking if he used an LLM to generate text for the book. However, he told us, “reliably determining whether content (or an issue) is AI generated remains a challenge, as even human-written text can appear ‘AI-like.’”
The makers of these fabrications—I wouldn’t call them “writers” or “authors”—are fraudsters through and through, that’s one thing. The publishers willing to publish and sell these fabrications, however, that’s another. Even if they’re merely looking the other way during the acquisition, editing, and publishing process, they must be regarded, for all practical purposes, as in on the scam and every bit as responsible.
With LLM/AI, it’s con artists all the way down.