PLOS ONE retracts blended learning paper for AI generated text
PLOS ONE retracted a research paper on blended learning after discovering evidence of undisclosed AI-generated text. The retraction was triggered by the inclusion of the phrase "regenerate response" and numerous hallucinated references.
The paper was retracted after the authors accidentally left the ChatGPT "regenerate response" prompt in the final text.
Key facts
- What
- PLOS ONE retracted a research paper on blended learning after discovering evidence of undisclosed AI-generated text.
- Incident date
- Apr 18, 2024
- Who
- PLOS ONE
- Failure mode
- Hallucination
- AI surface
- Chatbot
- Severity
- Medium
What happened
PLOS ONE retracted a paper on blended learning and academic motivation on April 18, 2024. The journal identified the undisclosed use of an AI tool because the phrase "regenerate response" appeared in the text. Additionally, 18 of the 76 cited references were unverifiable and others contained errors.
What broke inside the model
- 01 · TriggerA user asks for a fact, a citation, or a figure.
- 02 · Model stepThe model writes a fluent, confident answer.
- 03 · Control gapNothing ties the claim back to a real source.
- 04 · FailureA fabricated fact ships as if it were verified.
- 05 · ConsequenceThe false claim reaches a customer, a court, or the public.
Confidence holds, and even spikes, as the claim detaches from any source.
The AI model hallucinated a significant number of academic references to support its generated text. The authors failed to verify these citations or remove AI interface prompts before submission.
What it cost
Sources
Cite this entry
https://failureindex.ai/failures/plos-one-retracts-blended-learning-paperAI Failure Index. "PLOS ONE retracts blended learning paper for AI generated text" (FI-0507). Realm Labs. https://failureindex.ai/failures/plos-one-retracts-blended-learning-paper (indexed Jun 16, 2026).Data fields CC-BY 4.0, prose citation permitted. Incident ID FI-0507. Full dataset at /data.
Note from Realm Labs, the Index steward
How Realm would have caught this
- Prism
- OmniGuard
- AI Detection & Response (AIDR)
A runtime layer that watches the model's internal state can flag the moment a model commits to a claim it has no support for, and hold or reroute the response before it reaches a user. Realm reads those signals in real time rather than grading the transcript after the fact.