Academics Embed Hidden AI Prompts in Peer Reviews Across Eight Countries

Artificial intelligence is increasingly influencing academic research and education, raising new ethical and practical challenges. Some researchers have begun embedding hidden prompts in their papers to manipulate AI-based peer review systems into providing favorable evaluations, a tactic defended by some as a countermeasure against superficial AI reviewing. While AI tools have eased the burden on peer reviewers by automating tasks like summarization and flaw detection, concerns persist about the potential erosion of traditional scholarly rigor and the need for human judgment. In education, institutions struggle to keep pace with students using AI to cheat, as detection technologies lag behind sophisticated AI-human hybrid writing tools, described as a constant game of catch-up. Beyond integrity issues, there is broader skepticism about replacing human teaching with AI-driven content delivery, with critics warning against reducing education to data extraction and surveillance. Additionally, reliance on AI-generated academic sources has led to cases where fabricated bibliographies, complete with fake articles and journals, have caused real-world academic setbacks.