Tech

Scientists Warn AI Slop Is Wreaking Havoc in the Research World

Scientific pers rely on readers trusting their information. That’s why it’s disturbing that anew studyby researchers connected with Cornell and UCLA found 146,900 AI-generated fake citations in scientific pers hosted across four major research databases.

A key limitation of large language models such as Gemini and ChatGPT is their tendency to produce plausible-sounding but incorrect information, a phenomenon known as hallucination. If a researcher relies on a chatbot to draft citations without verifying them, the model may generate references that are entirely fabricated.

While scientific pers are often hidden from the public eye, the research they report has a profound impact on our lives. Everything from the internet to lithium-ion batteries began as a research per.

But when scientists submit pers that cite AI hallucinations, it can erode faith in the quality of the research.

Sloppy science

The research team analyzed 111 million references from 2.5 million scientific pers. They looked for citations with titles that the team could not match to any publication. While some of these instances were just spelling errors, the team also found hallucinations.

Unscrupulous researchers had faked citations long before the rise of chatbots, so the team also examined the rates of unmatched citations in research published before 2023, when chatbots hadn’t yet become ubiquitous.

“We find a sharp rise in non-existent references following widespread LLM adoption,” the authors write in the per.

The team also found that the bad citations were spread across many pers rather than concentrated in just a few. That suggests the problem is widespread, with many researchers relying on AI-generated references without fully verifying them.

Warning signs

Usha Haley, professor of management at Wichita State University, told CNET via email that she sees the proliferation of fake citations as a serious warning.

“Fake or AI-generated citations undermine trust in the scholarly record that provides the foundation on which peer review and cumulative knowledge rest,” Haley said. “Disturbingly, this skepticism is now coming from within academia itself and from early career scholars.”

The four databases where the researchers found the fake citations are arXiv, bioRxiv, SSRN and PubMed Central. These organizations, known as scientific repositories, play a major role in the research world.

Before a per is published in a scientific journal, the authors often upload it to a scientific repository, increasing its visibility and allowing the global scientific community to access it immediately. The new per on AI hallucinating citations is currently hosted on arXiv.

Recently, arXiv has taken steps to stem the flow of false citations. The organizationannounced Tuesdaythat it will ban authors who submit work with hallucinated citations or with any sign of AI content that hasn’t been carefully checked.

“The corpus of science is getting diluted. A lot of the AI stuff is either actively wrong or it’s meaningless. It’s just noise,” arXiv scientific director Steinn Sigurdsson told CNET’s Katelyn Chedraoui back in February. “It makes it harder to find what’s really hpening, and it can misdirect people.”

Tech

Tesla brings Full Self-Driving to China – Engadget

It’s now one of the 10 countries where (supervised) FSD is now available.

Tesla

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD)driver-assistance system is now available in China. In a post on X, Tesla listed China as one of the 10 countries wherein FSD is already available. The company is, of course, talking about the supervised version of the technology, seeing as unsupervised FSD is still not available to the public. On Tesla’s Chinese website, the company lists “intelligent assisted driving” as an add-on option for Tesla Model 3. It will cost customers in the countrya one-time fee of 64,000 yuan ($9,410) on top of the vehicle itself. It used to cost $8,000 up front in the US, but the company recently turned it intoa subscription-only service priced at $99 a month.

Unlike the current version of the product, unsupervised FSD will offer fully automated driving, with no need for a human to take control of the vehicle. At the moment, only Tesla’s robotaxis inAustin, Dallas and Houston, Texas are using the technology. Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, recently said that unsupervised FSD will be “widespread in the US by the end of this year,” but he is known for being overly optimistic with his timelines across his companies.

The automaker has been testing FSD and mping China’s roads for a while now with help from local partners. It’sbeen working to release the technology in the country for years, but it faced significant regulatory delays. Musk announced in January that Tesla was close to getting an proval from China’s authorities. While Chinese state media debunked his claim — and he has been saying that FSD was close to getting regulatory proval in China since 2024 —it looks he was right this time around. Before this, Chinese Tesla owners only had access to FSD’s predecessors, Autopilot and Enhanced Autopilot.

FSD Supervised is now available in:
– United States
– Canada
– Mexico
– Puerto Rico
– China
– Australia
– New Zealand
– South Korea
– The Netherlands
– Lithuania

— Tesla (@Tesla) May 20, 2026

Tech

Today's NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Thursday, May 21

Looking forthe most recentMini Crossword answer?Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? The clue that threw me off was 7-Across, but I eventually figured it out. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visitCNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

The completed NYT Mini Crossword puzzle for May 21, 2026.

NYT/Screenshot by CNET

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Not such a wild place to see an elephant
Answer: ZOO

4A clue: Mark who wrote “Man was made at the end of the week’s work, when God was tired”
Answer: TWAIN

6A clue: Symbol on the U.S. quarter
Answer: EAGLE

7A clue: Parts of a dental exam
Answer: XRAYS

8A clue: What Wile E. Coyote is always exploding himself with
Answer: TNT

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Big name in restaurant ratings
Answer: ZAGAT

2D clue: Like your hands after eating potato chips, perhs
Answer: OILY

3D clue: Lowest numbers in sudoku
Answer: ONES

4D clue: Reach out with your fingers?
Answer: TEXT

5D clue: Give an alert
Answer: WARN

Tech

Kobo ereaders are integrating with Goodreads alternative StoryGraph – Engadget

The integration launches in June and will automatically sync progress with the reading platform.

A Kobo Clara Colour leaning against a frame.

Amy Skorheim for Engadget

Kobo has announced plans to integrate its ereaders and reading ps with the social reading platform StoryGrh in June. StoryGrh is an independent alternative to Goodreads that exists outside of Amazon’s ecosystem and offers users more control over their recommendations.

“For a lot of us, the best part of reading is the community. It’s a part of how we show up in the world as readers every day,” Rakuten Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn said in a statement. “That’s why I’m so excited about our integration with StoryGrh. We wanted to strip away the friction between finishing a chter and and sharing your progress. Now, Kobo readers can do exactly that, seamlessly.”

When the new integration launches in June, Kobo ereaders and reading ps will automatically sync with connected StoryGrh accounts. The integration will update book progress percentages, add books you’re currently reading to StoryGrh’s In Progress shelf and mark finished books as “Read.” Besides ebooks, the integration will also work with any audiobooks you listen to through Kobo’s platform.

As an alternative to Amazon’s more popular, but restrictive Kindle ecosystem, it makes a lot of sense Kobo would work with StoryGrh. Both companies are aligned on giving readers more control over their reading experience. StoryGrh is also just one of several integrations Kobo currently offers. The company’s ereaders have an Inster integration for reading saved web articles and the ability to access files from cloud storage providers like Dropbox and Google Drive.

Tech

Google is bringing new AI-powered ad formats to search – Engadget

Finally, the Google I/O announcement you’ve been waiting for.

Google

With Google transforming search into an AI-driven experience, it was only a matter of time before AI ads entered the fray. As part of its Google I/O week announcements, the company previewed how Gemini-powered, conversational ads will start pearing in search results. Fortunately, all of the new AI-generated ad formats will be labeled as “sponsored.”

Google is testing two new ad types in AI Mode, both powered by “an independent AI explainer.” First, Conversational Discovery Ads will pear in AI Mode’s answers. The company explains to its advertisers that “your ad answers a person’s specific question.” (Who among us hasn’t dreamed of their questions being answered by ads?) Then there’s “highlighted answers,” which insert ads into AI Mode’s recommendation lists. For example, if you ask it about the best language ps, a sponsored entry for Duolingo might pear.

Standard Google Search will also be getting AI ads in the coming months. AI-Powered Shopping Ads are tailored to “big” purchases. (Google’s examples include a refrigerator, TV, or espresso machine.) When searching for one of these items, sponsored products will pear in the AI-fueled search results. As the company explains to its advertisers, “Gemini will pull up your most relevant products and instantly write a custom explainer highlighting why your product may be the right choice for them.”

Then there’s Business Agent for Leads. This Gemini-powered ad format places a “smart brand agent” (a custom chatbot that speaks as a company representative) within search ads. For example, a student researching universities might see a box with a “Chat” or “Ask a question” button within a sponsored search result.

Finally, Google’s Direct Offers feature is expanding to include more personalized deals. You’ll start seeing things like AI-powered product bundles, giveaways, and local coupons. Meanwhile, a built-in checkout feature lets you snag deals without leaving search, and you’ll also start seeing personalized travel deals within AI-assisted trip planning.

Tech

Plex Is Raising Its Lifetime Subscription Price Again, to a Whopping $750

The media library management and TV streaming p Plex is tripling the price of its Lifetime Plex Pass to $750, a second major price hike after it raised the cost of the option from $120 to $250 just last year.

The $250 price is still available until the new pricing goes into effect on July 1. Those with existing non-lifetime Plex accounts have the option to upgrade at the lower price until then as well.

Plex is a service that helps you organize digital videos, music and photos and stream them across ps on TVs, mobile devices and home-networked computers. Plex also offers some ad-supported live TV and on-demand movies and TV shows.

In its blog post about the change, the company said, “We’ve considered eliminating the Lifetime Plex Pass in the past, given that recurring subscriptions help us sustain long-term development, but we know it’s still a valuable option for many in our community. So instead of retiring it, we’re keeping it available at a price that reflects the real, ongoing value of the software we’re committed to building and maintaining for years to come.”

Plex’s plans

Plex’s software works for free for those who are streaming media they own or Plex’s TV offerings within their local network. But like many companies (hello, Microsoft!), Plex has been steering its customers to its subscription plans, which start at $1.99 a month, for additional features including remote streaming to different devices or hardware-based transcoding, the option to download media remotely and skip intros, credits or commercials.

One of the reasons people use Plex is that it can sort through your collection of music, TV shows and movies and populate metadata to make them easier to navigate and play.

But the price hike has created speculation among Plex subscribers that Plex’s future costs of serving those with the Lifetime subscription plan are causing it to wean users off the option by pricing it so high.

One poster on Reddit said of the price increase, “I’d be shocked if anyone ever purchases the lifetime pass at $750. Like, even a single buyer would shock me at that price.”

Another wrote, “Today’s pricing is a LOT different than when I got mine for $75. I’ve been using Plex for 11 years, 220 days, 14 hours, 27 minutes (as of this comment), and the progress and usability in the suite of ps and interfaces has continued to meet or even surpass my expectations.”

Avoiding the price hike with other options

The options for those who want to use Plex but avoid the price hike amount to either paying for Lifetime before July 1, going with a monthly or annual subscription to access features that Lifetime offers, sticking with the free tier for local watching or seeking out a competitor.

Many swear by Jellyfin, a free, open-source media server software suite that has a volunteer community updating it. For many in those communities, it’s a battle of ease-of-use (Plex) versus a free platform that is quickly and continuously updated, but that may have a steeper learning and installation curve (Jellyfin).

Others who are not fans of Jellyfin or who simply want something more plug-and-play are using free software such as Kodi or Emby, which also help sort media and offer a variety of streaming options.