Who is Hallucinating here?

When AI encounters contradictory biographical sources, what happens? This article explores a critical challenge at the intersection of artificial intelligence, historical biography, and literary scholarship, using S.R. Crockett’s life as a detailed case study.

The author examines what is technically termed AI “hallucination” — the confident reproduction of inaccurate information — and argues that in the Crockett biographical record, the problem lies not with the AI itself but with the corrupted source materials upon which it draws. A century of secondary scholarship, each generation citing the last without verification, has created error cascades that AI pattern recognition alone cannot overcome.

Drawing on real research conversations with Claude AI, the article analyses where AI collaboration succeeds and where it systematically fails, offering practical guidance on source hierarchies, staged workflows, and best practice for scholars working with contradictory evidence. Essential reading for anyone using AI tools in historical or literary research, and for anyone interested in the archival foundations of S.R. Crockett biography.

An article from the Reading Room of the S.R. Crockett Online Museum.