In 2003 I became a full time consultant and I incorporated for tax reasons. Several months later some guy called me on my second landline that I had for the business and tells me that they have recognized me as an up and coming new business for the county and they wanted to add me to their Who’s Who and for a small fee… I hung up.
Decent universities know which journals and conferences count, and which don’t. I suspect some colleges don’t know this, and people teaching there think (or maybe do) get credit for this sham publication. And I’ve mentioned elsewhere I got some AI generated papers as a member of the program committee at one conference held in India.
I think the real problem would be if legitimate journals and conference start getting swamped with AI trash, the way the SF magazines are.
I have an ex who was so, so honored for being included in one of those poetry books.
No surprise, she was less than smart.
Edited: ironically, I can’t spell.