Sadly, the topic of our Blog from 14.01.2025, warning about AI generated pseudo-scientific texts published by publishing houses such as „tredition“, is as relevant now as it was then, as Prof. Dr Dr h.c. Martina Hartmann uncovered such works in the course of her research and, drawing from two exemplary fake publications, compiled a (long) list of further fictive medievistic, AI generated pseudo-texts.
On 21.04.2026, Dr Stephan Wünsche, specialist for research data and research information and the music collection at the Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, published a recommendable commentary on the subject in the library blog under the title „How to Sell Bullshit Online (Fast)“. He cites there Brandolini’s famous law to the effect that the amount of energy required to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it, an asymmetry that is always to the advantage of the producers of such rubbish. In his article, Wünsche examines the practice in musicological publications, showing how fraudulent authors produce such works, analysing the legal loopholes that make this possible, and suggesting strategies to combat it. Highly readable!
Further developments:
After the above-mentioned Blog by Dr. Stephan Wünsche went viral, Jochen Zenthöfer published an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) on 8.5.2026 uncovering the dubious practices of the publishing house "tredition": : 20260508_F.A.Z_Feuilleton 15.pdf
On 15.5., the FAZ followed up with a report that "tredition" has responded to the criticism by stopping the publication of its KI-produced items: Verlag "Tredition" streicht KI-Schrott.
On 21.05.2026, Dr Stephan Wünsche published a follow-up entry on the topic in the blog of the Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig under the title „Klaas Klever ist gefasst“. Summarising the journalistic efforts required to move „tredition“ to stop publishing its pseudo-texts, he lists MGH president Hartmann as the first to draw attention to the growing problem of AI-generated publications over a year ago.