Guarding against artificial intelligence--hallucinated citations: the case for full-text reference deposit

Glynn, Alex

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence 

The tendency of generative artificial intelligence (AI) sys tems to "hallucinate" false information is well-known; AI-generated cit ations to nonexistent sources have made their way into the reference list s of peer-reviewed publications. Here, I propose a solution to this pr oblem, taking inspiration from the T ransparency and Openness Promotion ( TOP) data sharing guidelines, the clash of generative AI with the Amer ican judiciary, and the precedent set by submissions of prior art to the Unite d States Patent and T rademark Office. Journals should require authors to sub mit the full text of each cited source along with their manuscripts, ther eby preventing authors from citing any material whose full text they cannot produce. This solution requires limited additional work on the part of aut hors or editors while effectively immunizing journals against hallucinat ed references. Within the same month, commenters on Pub-Peer raised concerns regarding the article's reference list.