AI is fabricating citations in biomedical studies, researchers find

MoneyWatch AI is fabricating citations in biomedical studies, researchers find .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-moneywatch.jpg'); } By Megan Cerullo Megan Cerullo Reporter, MoneyWatch Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting. Read Full Bio Megan Cerullo Updated on: May 13, 2026 / 5:09 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Artificial intelligence is fabricating references to medical research that does not exist, according to recent findings. A recent audit found that, among millions of biomedical papers, more than 4,000 contained citations to non-existent research, according to an article in The Lancet. Such fabricated citations can undermine the clinical guidelines that health care professionals rely on to provide care, said Maxim Topaz, an associate professor at the Columbia School of Nursing and the study's lead author.An audit of millions of biomedical papers found more than 4,000 citations to bogus studies, the researchers said in a recent article published in The Lancet. Fabricated citations are dangerous because they influence clinical guidelines, which are based on public research that health care professionals follow in providing care, Maxim Topaz, an associate professor at the Columbia School of Nursing and the study's lead author, told CBS News."When those fake references are making it into the literature, they will end up in those guidelines, and that's how doctors decide how to provide care for you," he said. "Your doctor could be making decisions around treatment based on studies that never existed."Growing problemAlso troubling is that none of the mistakes Topaz and his team identified have been corrected or retracted, and could still be influencing patient care, he said.  "The rate of fake references showing...