Librarians Combat Low-Quality AI-Generated Content Amid Challenges
Librarians face challenges identifying and managing low-quality AI-generated books, relying on intuition and external author data while awaiting official guidance.
- • Workslop refers to low-quality AI-generated content with identifiable flaws.
- • Libraries struggle to filter AI-written nonfiction and children's books due to limited capacity and subtlety of errors.
- • Librarians use author information, reviews, and copyright data to assess AI-generated works missing digital footprints.
- • Pima County Public Library avoids AI books but awaits formal policy from the American Library Association.
Key details
The rise of low-quality AI-generated content, known as "workslop," presents an increasing challenge, particularly for professional settings such as libraries. Workslop is difficult to detect since early-stage AI-generated projects may initially appear complete and polished. However, persistent issues including generic wording, excessive keywords, vague information, hallucinated data, visual inconsistencies, and garbled text reveal its flawed nature as projects develop. Experts advise trusting intuition to identify such shortcomings in AI content.
Libraries have encountered this content problem firsthand with the proliferation of AI-created nonfiction and children's picture books. According to Kate DeMeester-Lane, library services manager at Pima County Public Library, these AI-written books often contain numerous errors and nonsensical content that make them relatively easy to spot despite the inability to read every title. Librarians rely on external clues such as reviews, author visibility, and copyright records since AI-generated books typically lack a digital footprint and authentic authorial presence.
Currently, Pima County Public Library opts to avoid including AI-generated titles but lacks a formal policy pending guidance from the American Library Association. The library is carefully balancing community interests and the evolving public perception of AI-authored works, especially as generative AI struggles with producing complex narratives. The future of AI-written books on library shelves depends on improvements in content quality and broader societal acceptance.
This situation underscores the broader challenge of managing AI-generated workslop across industries, emphasizing the need for vigilance and developing practical detection methods to maintain content integrity.