# Author fakes optical soliton paper with AI tools, IEEE catches it

Digest AI · Society & Work · published 2026-10-27T13:00:03Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/author-fakes-optical-soliton-paper-with-ai-tools-ieee-catches-it

## Summary

A journalist used free AI tools—ChatGPT and Gemini—to generate a fake academic paper on optical solitons, their Ph.D. topic, and submitted it to *IEEE Access* for review. The experiment tested how easily AI-generated content could bypass publishers’ defenses. After about two dozen prompts, the models produced a paper with fabricated references, dense but unvalidated math, and stylistic quirks like excessive acronyms and hedging language. IEEE’s automated checks flagged the paper for ghost citations, and a reviewer noted debatable claims and technical inconsistencies, though the science itself appeared plausible to a non-expert.

A second attempt used *FARS*, an autonomous research system that generated a research proposal in 21 minutes, conducted a computational experiment overnight, and wrote a submission-ready paper in two hours. Though *FARS*’s references were real, IEEE rejected it for over-reliance on non-peer-reviewed preprints and AI-generated artifacts in figures. The experiment highlights how AI can automate research workflows, blurring the line between human and machine contributions, while publishers struggle to keep pace with detection tools.

## Key points

- IEEE Access rejected both AI-generated papers: one for fabricated references, the other for preprint-heavy citations and AI artifacts in figures
- FARS, an autonomous research system, created a research proposal in 21 minutes and a full paper in two hours with no human input after the initial prompt
- Journalist used free versions of ChatGPT and Gemini, breaking the paper into sections and switching models when one stalled

## Why it matters

The experiment shows how AI can bypass publishers’ defenses with minimal human effort, straining peer review and trust in scientific publishing. Automated systems like FARS may soon conduct research end-to-end, forcing rethinks of what counts as legitimate science.

## Sources

1. [I Used AI to Fake a Scientific Paper. Here’s What Happened](https://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-generated-scientific-papers) (IEEE Spectrum AI, 2026-10-27)

## Cite

Digest AI, "Author fakes optical soliton paper with AI tools, IEEE catches it", 27 October 2026, https://digestai.news/story/author-fakes-optical-soliton-paper-with-ai-tools-ieee-catches-it

---

Written by Digest AI's editorial model from the linked sources; the sources are the record. Headlines, digests and key points are written by Digest AI and may be quoted with a link to the story page. Linked articles belong to their publishers. Terms: https://digestai.news/terms#reuse
JSON: https://digestai.news/story/author-fakes-optical-soliton-paper-with-ai-tools-ieee-catches-it.json