May 22, 2026
MAN AND ROBOTS: A weekly column from MARS Magazine on AI, Hollywood, and the future of work.
🤖 Do As I Say, Not As I Prompt: AI Book Update
1. We have a bit of an update on the story of Steven Rosenbaum and his book The Future of Truth: How AI Reshapes Reality. Since The New York Times exposed the fact that the book was riddled with AI-generated hallucinations and made-up quotes, the author has had at least one event related to the book canceled. The New York Public Library (NYPL) was set to host Rosenbaum for a conversation with former Washington Post editor Marty Baron called “Reclaiming the Truth” on May 20. However, as media reporter Max Tani pointed out, that event was quickly removedfrom the NYPL website on the 19th, the same day the Times’ exposé was released.
Subsequently, the review rating for the book on Amazon has plummeted to 2 stars, after a number of reviewers flocked to the book’s Amazon page and slammed it with 1-star reviews. “Unfortunately this author has discredited himself by publishing LLM hallucinated content in this book. Peak 2026 irony and a cautionary tale for all,” wrote one reviewer. “The AI slop in the 1st Edition is really doing that ‘show-don’t-tell’ work to fulfill the title’s promise,” wrote yet another reviewer. “I’m sure it all sounds good but maybe find something else to read if you value truth or epistemology. The author assured the NYT that the AI slop will be cleaned up for a 2nd Edition (see NYT article) but I’m not waiting on it.”
The Lesson for the Rest of Us: The author has admitted to using commercially available AI chatbot tools to help him write the book. And while I think this is possibly the worst case scenario for a book about AI and trust, the problem here isn’t actually the AI, it’s the trust that the human put in AI to do his research for him. This is the pitfall so many fall into when using AI to write. Instead of utilizing it as a possible second pair of eyes on human writing and research, some fall into the seductive trap of trusting that the AI will deliver accurate information that doesn’t need to be checked.
No. This is a mistake. Even if you do all the writing and you have a general grasp of the topic, relying heavily on AI is still a mistake. In 2026, AI outputs still must always be checked, re-checked, and confirmed yet again. This becomes obvious if you query an AI chatbot on a topic you have deep professional experience with. But if you simply trust AI to deliver accurate information in a domain you’re only superficially familiar with, like, say, AI technology, and the scholars researching it, you’re bound to get yourself into trouble.
I know, innovation is sexy, especially to authors looking for something to sell to business publishers that can be marketed by a skilled rhetorician on the futurist thinker circuit. But playing tech Cassandra with a book about “how AI reshapes reality,” and then using AI chatbots for research is so wrongheaded and blatant, there’s something oddly offensive about the whole thing. It’s like he almost got one over on us, if not for that pesky Mullin kid over at the Gray Lady. I’m now almost certain we’ve already been snookered by another author with clout and bold face name connections with an AI-generated book that just hasn’t been identified yet. This may just be the new way of things. From now on, it looks like only the truly sloppy will get caught letting AI do the heavy lifting for them in book publishing.
🎭 Tilda Swinton: Only Humans Left Alive
2. “I believe as long as what we’re not producing is formulaic and in some way tiring for the audience, AI doesn’t have a chance. But as long as we can continue to do that, then we have to watch out… What we need to do is what only humans can do: make messy, adventurous experiences so that an audience does not know what’s coming next and enjoys that experience.”
–Tilda Swinton, actress, Doctor Strange, Snowpiercer, at Cannes 2026
*Source: Variety
🎬 Google Sleeping With the AI Enemy at ByteDance
3. In a surprise announcement this week, ByteDance’s CapCut unit revealed that it is partnering with Google Gemini to offer image and video editing capabilities within Gemini. The company broke the news on Twitter/X.com, writing, “Soon, users will be able to edit images and videos directly within the Gemini app using CapCut’s advanced creative and editing capabilities. As creative workflows become more connected and seamless, we believe the future of creation will be more conversational, intuitive, and intelligently integrated across tools and experiences.”
AI Frenemies: ByteDance is also the company behind Seedance 2.0, the AI video generation tool that has outclassed Google’s Veo AI video creation tool. So although Google continues to update Veo, and just released its Gemini Omni AI model, this pairing with the China-based competitor hints that Google wants to focus on AI models and leave the robust editing suite solutions to someone else, for now.
📺 Seth Rogen Declares War on AI Writing
4. “I don’t understand what [AI is] supposed to do. Every time I see a video on Instagram that’s like, ‘Hollywood is cooked,’ what follows is the most stupid dog shit I’ve ever seen in my life. And if your instinct is to use AI and not go through that process, you shouldn’t be a writer, because you’re not writing. Go do something else. And if you don’t want to go through the process, you shouldn’t be a writer. The idea of a tool that makes me write less is not appealing to me, because I like writing.”
–Seth Rogen, actor/writer/producer, The Studio, Superbad, This Is The End
*Source: Brut America
MAN AND ROBOTS is a weekly column from MARS Magazine on AI, Hollywood, and the future of work. All editorial text is written by humans.
Cover image: Seth Rogen and Ice Cube in ‘The Studio’ Apple TV
