When AI is involved in creating books, errors can occur. And if the subject is edible mushrooms, the danger can even be life‑threatening. In Hut ab! – Das Pilz‑Kochbuch from Callwey Verlag, author Martin H. Lorenz gathered recipes from renowned chefs such as Eckart Witzigmann, Franck Giovannini, Johann Lafer, and Vincent Klink. The publisher also provided exclusive photographs by Julia Schmidt, Nikolas Hagele, and Caroline Wimmer. The result is a product that would have been of genuine interest to many hobby cooks, especially in autumn. Nevertheless, the cookbook cannot be purchased for now. Besides the photos and recipes, the book also contains illustrations that have caused problems—because, apparently, artificial intelligence (AI) was at least partly involved in their creation. On the Reddit platform, users expressed confusion over the book’s images, noting that several mushroom species were depicted incorrectly. Laypeople could have confused edible mushrooms with similarly looking poisonous ones based on those illustrations. Mushroom expert speaks out The mushroom specialist involved in the production, Dennis Regul, has now publicly commented on the incident: “It concerns the book ‘Hut ab! Das Pilz‑Kochbuch’. I was involved, reviewed the content and gave feedback on errors. I received no fee, only five copies of the book. During the collaboration I discovered AI‑generated pictures and reported that they were completely unsuitable. Unfortunately, I have since found that they were still used,” he wrote on Instagram and Facebook. “I consider the AI‑generated images dangerous. I want to point this out because beginners could be led to collect the wrong mushrooms.” The publisher disputes this. According to a spokesperson, the graphics are not fully AI‑generated; they were created by in‑house illustrators and then visually harmonised with AI. The errors slipped in during that process—errors that the mushroom expert did not manage to spot in time. Although Regul provided critical feedback on some illustrations, those were corrected before publication. At Callwey, an intensive investigation is now underway to determine how the mistakes arose. The publisher has acted quickly: the book has been withdrawn from the market. Whether it will be reissued with corrected illustrations has not yet been decided; according to the spokesperson, this will not happen before 2026. AI becomes a problem for illustrators Earlier, the professional association of illustrators (Illustratoren‑Organisation, IO) had already criticised the use of AI in the industry. “When asked about the biggest future challenge, ‘Artificial Intelligence’ was by far the top answer. Moreover, reports are increasing about missing commissions, changed requests and price collapses,” the statement reads.

(translated with AI 🤖)