--- title: "Business Insider Did Something So Stupid With AI That We’re Reeling" description: "Amid Business Insider's latest pivot to AI, the site's past brushes with the technology are coming back to haunt it." date: "2025-06-03" modified: "2025-06-03" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/business-insider-ai-reading-list" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai hallucinations" - "ai journalism" - "business insider" - "layoffs" --- # Business Insider Did Something So Stupid With AI That We’re Reeling ![Amid Business Insider's latest pivot to AI, the site's past brushes with the technology are coming back to haunt it.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Amid Business Insider's [latest pivot to AI](), the site's past brushes with the technology are coming back to haunt it. As [*Semafor* reports](), a manager recommended fake, seemingly-AI-generated books to underlings last year on a reading list meant to help them better understand business journalism. In the staff email, which was leaked to *Semafor*, the senior *BI* manager suggested well-known titles like Andrew Ross Sorkin's classic "[Too Big To Fail]()," about the Wall Street crash of 2008, and "[DisneyWar]()" by James Stewart, which exposed the tumultuous behind-the-scenes drama at the famed studio some 20 years ago. Those were recommended alongside books that nobody had heard of, with names like "Simply Target: A CEO’s Lessons in a Turbulent Time and Transforming an Iconic Brand" by Gregg Steinhafel, the former chief executive of the big-box chain, and "The House of Morgan: An Intimate Portrait of the Most Powerful Banking Family in the World," by purported author Fredric Morgan. But *Semafor* was unable to find any evidence that those titles had ever been published. Some were *similar* to real books — like the legitimate book "[The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance]()" by Ron Chernow — while others seem to have been completely made up. One of the books on the most ludicrous falsehoods on the list was "Mark Zuckerberg Autobiography: The Man Behind the Code," a purported autobiography of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg that *also* claims to have been written by a "Jasper Robin." (An autobiography, obviously, is written by its subject.) Though Zuckerberg has been the subject of at least a few biographies written by other people, none of them have been named "Jasper Robin," and in fact, we were not able to find anything about said author except for their [author page on Goodreads](), which also [links to the title]() in [Italian]() and [German]() — but not to any booksellers. Though *BI* didn't admit the source for those phony titles either in leaked documents or in requests for comment from *Semafor*, it doesn't take a deep investigation to figure out where they almost certainly came from — especially given that the company is now investing in AI, and is planning to [lay off 21 percent of its workforce]() amid its pivot to using the [hallucination-happy technology](). In a memo to staff announcing the layoffs that [later published on its website](), *BI* CEO Barbara Peng said that the company is "going all-in on AI" and experiencing growing pains as it does. "Change like this isn't easy," Peng wrote. "But *Business Insider* was born in a time of disruption — when the smartphone was reshaping how people consumed news. We thrived by taking risks and building something new." To say that *BI* has "thrived" may be an overstatement. The site has long been winnowing its workforce; along with the latest cuts, the company [laid off eight percent of its workforce]() last year and [axed 10 percent of its roles]() in 2023 — and in that instance, [AI experiments were also announced]() around the same time. And when senior managers are recommending books they haven't even read, nevermind verified they're real, it's easy to see why. **More on hallucinatory citations:** [*RFK Jr's "Make America Healthy Again" Report Cites Studies That Don't Exist, in Clear Sign of AI Generated Slop*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()