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AI-generated citations are polluting the scientific literature, corrupting court filings, and eroding the foundations of evidence-based discourse. The tools for governing AI-generated claims already exist — they are the same tools we use to govern human-generated claims. The problem is not that AI hallucinates. The problem is that we have not yet decided to hold it to the same epistemic standards we already understand and use every day.

Reading through my students’ papers for Trouble in Mind: The History of Psychiatry in the United States, I found myself captivated by the threads of insight woven through their work. What struck me first was how students grappled with Benjamin’s notion of aura when confronted with AI-generated text — and what emerged from their essays was anything but simple.