AI Prompts Hidden in Research Papers Raise Ethics Concerns
Researchers embed hidden AI prompts to sway peer reviews—raising ethical questions and reshaping academic publishing norms.
Matilda
AI Prompts Hidden in Research Papers Raise Ethics Concerns Are Hidden AI Prompts in Peer Review Papers the Next Academic Ethics Crisis? In a surprising twist reshaping academic publishing, researchers are now embedding hidden AI prompts in peer review papers—secret commands designed to influence how AI tools evaluate their work. This emerging tactic, uncovered in a study by Nikkei Asia , reveals how some scholars are using invisible text or tiny font sizes to instruct AI systems to provide only positive feedback. While it might sound like a futuristic prank, this practice could have real consequences for research integrity, particularly in fields like computer science, where the use of AI in scholarly workflows is becoming more common. So what’s really happening—and why does it matter? Image Credits:Dmitry Kovalchuk/ Getty Images The Rise of Hidden AI Prompts in Peer Review The discovery of hidden AI prompts in academic manuscripts has exposed a growing tension between innovation and integrity. According to Nikkei Asia , 17 English-language preprin…
