AI Definitions: Stealth Crawler

Stealth Crawler (AI crawlers) – This type of web crawler scrapes content from sites, often ignoring whether a site wants them to do so or not. Stealth crawlers may disguise themselves as ordinary visitors, making it hard for publishers to identify and stop them. Since stealth crawlers don’t identify themselves, the traffic could come from an AI company or a company mining data it can resell. Publishers are asking for laws that would require AI crawlers to disclose their identity and purpose. Critics say these laws are too broad—that crawlers often benefit the public by facilitating academic research, investigative reporting, etc. For example, Meta stopped researchers from using automated tools that studied misinformation on Facebook. Observers point out that blocking AI crawlers can make sites less visible—preventing them from showing up in AI summaries and answers may be similar to blocking Google crawlers, which would keep a site from appearing in Google search results. Some observers believe scraping has become a billion-dollar industry.  

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22 Articles about AI’s impact on College Faculty & Administrators

Higher Ed’s AI Integration Overhyped, New Data Shows – Inside Higher Ed

As the coding boom fades, AI is forcing colleges and computer science grads to adjust – Fast Company

Dartmouth’s Provost Quietly Used AI in His Published Work. It’s Touched Off a Campus Firestorm. – Chronicle of Higher Ed

An M.I.T. Report Warns A.I. Is Causing ‘Cognitive Surrender.’ Universities Are in a Bind. – New York Times

Congress Crawls Toward Higher-Ed AI Regulation – Chronicle of Higher Ed

Report: Student Protections Haven’t Kept Up With Higher Ed’s Adoption of AI – Inside Higher Ed

Higher Education Does Not Need More AI Tools but Better AI Experiences – Campus Technology

It could be a long time before independent research emerges on learning outcomes. – Inside Higher Ed

Harvard College’s Dean: ‘Everyone Is Using AI All the Time for Everything’ – Chronicle of Higher Ed

The big college major rethink – Axios

Can AI Help Colleges Reach Struggling Students Earlier? – Inside Higher Ed

The Academic-Integrity Council Can’t Keep Up With AI – Chronicle of Higher Ed

AI Slop Is a Tenure Problem, Not Just a Tech Problem – Inside Higher Ed

How ‘Chaos’ Surrounding AI Can Sink a College Presidency - Chronicle of Higher Ed

Chinese universities are cutting language majors to make way for AI – Rest of World

Does Your College Need a Librarian for AI? – Chronicle of Higher Ed

The ‘Nonexistent’ Research on AI’s Benefits for Education - Inside Higher Ed

Colleges Are Building A.I. Degrees, Hoping Students Will Come – New York Times  

A New ‘AI-First’ College Aims to Offer Cheaper, Employer-Friendly Degrees – Chronicle of Higher Ed

Half of Campus Tech Leaders Question AI’s ROI – Inside Higher Ed

Spelman College Names an A.I. Expert as Its New President – New York Times  

AI Is a ‘Wicked Problem.’ That’s the University’s Specialty. – Chronicle of Higher Ed

Don’t form strong beliefs about AI (yet)

Don’t form strong beliefs about AI (yet). Even in the frontier labs, no one knows what the future holds. Those outside the labs don’t even know what the present holds, because they haven’t seen the most advanced models, which haven’t been released. If you are sure you know what will happen, or what we should do about it, you are nurturing what writer and satirist Ambrose Bierce called “a vagrant opinion without visible means of support.” - Megan McArdle writing in the Washington Post

24 Recent Articles about AI & Academic Scholarship

One professor’s AI-assisted output: 200 papers and 14 books this year – Washington Post

AI saves scientists seven hours a week, Google paper finds – Research Professional News

What if AI can make Science Better, not just Faster? - Bradley Max Segal

AI co-scientists are revolutionizing how research is done – Nature

The AI Discourse in Academia is Toxic. It Doesn’t have to be.- Ran Blekhman

Can researchers trust that AI models won’t leak their ideas? – Science Business

Who gets credit in the AI era? OpenAI maths bombshell sparks debate – Nature

AI conference drowning in abstracts, with roughly 50,000 submissions before the deadline – The Decoder

Journal editor developing system to weed out authors “submitting AI-assisted papers they ‘don’t understand.' - Nihar Shah

Use and Effects of LLMs in Peer Review: A Randomized Experiment and Survey at ICML 2026 – arXiv

Provost of Dartmouth Busted Using AI for His Own Writing in Newspapers and Academic Journals – Futurism

South Korean Government New Guidelines mandate of AI Disclosure in Research – Chosun  

Could AI Be Better at Peer Review Than Humans? – Chronicle of Higher Ed

All corners of academia will soon be flooded with AI-generated research - Giorgio Gilestro

Misconduct case dropped against AI expert after claims of AI use in recent book – Retraction Watch

AI in peer review should be a second reader, not a judge – KevinMD

Three-quarters of researchers unsure what use of AI to disclose - Research Professional News

The “synthetic validity” problem in AI-generated science – PNAS

A psychology journal has retracted a paper on how using generative AI can affect confidence in work tasks – Retraction Watch

It could be a long time before independent research emerges on how AI should—or shouldn’t—be used to improve learning outcomes. – Inside Higher Ed

Scholars are divided over how much AI use is acceptable. - Chronicle of Higher Ed

Analysis of predatory journals using AI generated papers – Springer

AI Paper Mills Now Taint One in Ten Cancer Studies: France Cuts Big Publisher Ties – Tech Times

Why funders should investigate if AI is making research more conservative – Science Business

Professors & Students are in a Bind

Professors and students are often in a bind about what they should do: Use more A.I. to stay relevant, or dial back to preserve learning and thinking? Getting answers from a bot can create the illusion of learning” for students who reach for A.I. at the first hint of struggle. At the same time, the potential of these technologies to augment work across campus is immense. -New York Times

15 Webinars this week about AI, Journalism & Media

Mon, Sept 28 - How to Maximize Google Business Profile Traffic in the Age of AI

What: Here’s what we’ll cover: The new rules shaping Google Business Profiles; What you need to know about the new GBP verification process; How AI is influencing local search visibility; Actionable ways to protect and grow your local traffic.

Who: Brad Schaeffer, Global Partnerships, Google; Anna Rindels, Senior Optimization Strategist, Alchemer.

When: 8 pm, Eastern

Where: BrightTALK

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: TechTarget

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Tue, Sept 29 - Artificial intelligence and journalism: audiences, guidelines and products

What: Renowned journalists, scholars and representatives of European tech companies share insights and best practices on the smart use of AI in journalistic work.

Who: Hans Brorsen, Valid; Morana Perić, DeepL; Manuel Herranz, Pangeanic; J. Alex Dalessio, eQualitie; Dren Gërguri, University of Prishtina; Amina Mahović Balkan, Investigative Reporting Regional Network; Hannes Cools, University of Amsterdam; Nisrine Salameh, International Federation of Journalists.

When: 3 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom.

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Tue, Sept 29 - How are newsrooms rethinking election coverage?

What: The panel will explore how election coverage is evolving, from newsroom planning and technology to audience expectations and reaching local communities, sharing practical lessons and approaches that news organizations can apply to their own coverage.

Who: David Scott, Vice President of AP Elections; Josh Lawson, OpenAI; Kimbriell Kelly, Chicago Public Media; Maritza L. Félix of Conecta Arizona; Arnon Mishkin, leads the Fox News Decision Team.

When: 10 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: Associated Press

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Tue, Sept 29 - Diagnose Before You Optimize: Using Insights and AI to Grow Publisher Revenue

What: This session will focus on one of the biggest questions facing publishers today: when revenue is under pressure, how do you identify what is actually causing the problem before deciding what to optimize? The session will also examine how AI can support faster diagnosis, surface meaningful insights and help revenue teams move more quickly toward informed action.

Who: Olly Aulakh, Chief Revenue Officer, Opti Digital; Rob Beeler, CEO & Founder of Beeler.Tech.

When: 10 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: Local Media Association

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Tue, Sept 29 - Everyday Applications of AI in Learning

What: Industry experts will share how organizations are putting AI to work across the learning lifecycle. Learn practical approaches for streamlining content development, supporting personalized learning and improving the learner experience. Whether you are exploring AI for the first time or building on existing efforts, this session will offer insights to help you apply it more effectively in your day-to-day work.

Who: Nolan T Hout, Senior Vice President of Growth, Infopro Learning; Jessica Peck, Senior Sales Content Manager, Allego; Dan Doherty, Senior Sales Engineer, Allego; Kim Merritt, Founder and President, The URL dr; Ankit Petkar, Instructional Designer, CommLab India; Vineet Unnithan, Instructional Designer, CommLab India; Debbie Richards, Technology Consultant, Creative Interactive Ideas.

When: 11 am – 3:45 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: Training Industry

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Tue, Sept 29 - When Sources Don’t Tell The Truth

What: How journalists can report ethically and effectively on false statements by politicians or other sources.

Who: New York Times Chief White House Correspondent Peter Baker; Stephen J. Adler, the director of NYU’s Ethics and Journalism Initiative and former Reuters editor-in-chief.

When: 12:30 pm, Eastern

Where: Eventbrite

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: The Ethics & Journalism Initiative

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Tue, Sept 29 - Covering Midterms and Beyond

What: Learn how to cover elections with skill, speedy and clarify while still listening to voters, pushing past misinformation and getting to the heart of what matters to your audience.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free to members                                

Sponsor: Investigative Reporters and Editors

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Tue, Sept 29 - How to Reduce Downtime and Improve Operations With AI

What: You'll learn: Ways to reduce downtime and improve operational efficiency; How to connect information across systems without disrupting existing workflows; Lessons learned from applying AI in complex, mission-critical environments.

Who: Maddie Wolf, General Manager & Vice President, Operations, Legion Intelligence.

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: GovLopp

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Tue, Sept 29 - Human Review vs. Verified Pipelines: What Catches Bugs in the Age of AI Code

What: Why code review is breaking down under AI-generated volume and what a pipeline that verifies every deployment against a defined set of rules actually looks like in practice, regardless of whether a human, an AI agent, or a very determined intern wrote the code.

Who: Viktor Farcic, New Stack;  John Bristowe, Principal Developer Advocate, Octopus Deploy.

When: 2:30 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: The New Stack

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Tue, Sept 29 - AI and Accessibility: Passing the Scan, Failing the User

What: We will discuss how to bring intentional, human-centered accessibility practices into AI-assisted workflows, using AI to support learning and development without letting it decide what "accessible enough" means. You'll leave with a practical way to evaluate AI-generated content, know when to trust automated checkers (and when not to), and keep people at the center of your design decisions.

Who: Sarah Mercier, MBA, CPACC CEO, Build Capable.

When: 3 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: Training Magazine Network

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Wed, Sept 30 – Media co-ops: How journalists and news organizations are building together

What: More journalists, creators, and communities are experimenting with cooperative models. These efforts help members share resources, build sustainable organizations, and develop new approaches to producing and supporting media.

Who: Noémi Giszpenc, Executive Director, Keystone Development Center; Brandy Jensen, Culture editor, Defector; Steve Mellon, former NewsGuild striker & Staff photographer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Nicole Washington, Program Manager, Shared Media Services Project at Start.Coop; Eli Zeger, Writer, editor & researcher at Concordia University in Montréal.

When: 10 am, Eastern

Where: Eventbrite

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: Center for Cooperative Media

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Wed, Sept 30 - Digital security for investigative journalists

What: This online safety workshop will provide investigative journalists with techniques and tools that can help keep their data, identity, and reporting safe and effective. Attendees will learn about how to assess their digital threat landscape, understand their digital toolbox options, protect sensitive data, and securely communicate with sources.

Who: Christopher Jones at the Committee to Protect Journalists.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: The Committee to Protect Journalists

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Wed, Sept 30 - Codex bootcamp 201: Team workflows

What: This intermediate session is designed for builders ready to move beyond individual tasks and establish collaborative development practices. You’ll leave with practical patterns for coordinating longer-running work, sharing context across a team, and using Codex more consistently across projects.

Who: Marcus Stallworth, Builder ADM, OpenAI; Palash Sushil Matey, AI Deployment Manager, OpenAI; Gaëlle El Feghali, AI Deployment Manager, OpenAI.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: OpenAI Academy

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Wed, Sept 30 - The Human Half of Agentic AI

What: Learn how approval gates can work when marketing runs around the clock—and human judgment becomes the job, instead of the bottleneck.

Who: Rafa Flores, Chief Product and Growth Officer, Treasure; Sam Kwapong, Lead Product Manager, Treasure AI.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: TreasureAI

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Thu, Oct 1 - Beyond the Prompt: Building Repeatable AI Workflows for Nonprofit Fundraisers

What: How ChatGPT Work can help teams review source materials, develop a campaign plan, turn a proven process into a reusable Skill, and prepare recurring campaign updates. The goal is to spend less time on repeatable work while keeping human judgment, empathy, trust, and donor relationships at the center.

Who: Alex Nawar, Head of OpenAI Academy, OpenAI.

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free                                                   

Sponsor: OpenAI Academy

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26 Surprising Things AI can do now

FAA launches AI tool to assist air traffic control at major D.C.-area airports – Washington Post

K-Pop Is Betting on AI and Robots. Will Fans Buy It? – Wall Street Journal

How DraftKings Uses A.I. to Target the Gamblers Likeliest to Lose – New York Times

Satellite data combined with machine learning gives meteorologists new tools to predict deadly floods sooner. – The Verge

AI can now control fusion plasma faster than humans can react – Science Daily

Will A.I. Kill Us? Can It Hack My Bank Account? Your A.I. Questions Answered – New York Times

Mastercard Joins Visa in Letting AI Bots Do Your Shopping – Wall Street Journal

Single brain implant enables people with paralysis to speak and convey upper-body gestures simultaneously via a virtual avatar - National Institutes of Health

Listing sites are littered with homes with fake fireplaces, improved views and virtual landscaping, raising false advertising concerns. – New York Times

Manuscripts-turned AI agents can now ‘talk’ to each other, make new discoveries – Stanford

Philosophy Journal Publishes Largely AI-Authored Article — On Purpose – Daily Nous

OpenAI Says It Has Cracked One of Math’s ‘Millennium Problems’ – New York Times

This may be the first academic profession to see its work taken over by AI – Washington Post

Google’s New Phone Comes With Plenty of A.I. Does Anyone Want That? – New York Times

Your AI agents can now control your Google Home devices – Tech Crunch

AI agents are checking the scientific literature — and spotting decades-old errors – Nature

A.I. Is Everywhere in China. See For Yourself. – New York Times

OpenAI’s latest math breakthroughs commit research misconduct, experts say – Scientific American 

This $150 lifetime AI-powered app listens while you play piano and coaches you in real time - Mashable

I was an AI skeptic — until I started using it to identify plants – Tom’s Guide

Oh Lord, AI Reporters Are Actually Breaking Big News – Wired

Baby’s first A.I. surveillance will track sleep and other data for young children – New York Times

AI Can Now Create Viruses From Scratch. What Happens When Someone Uses It for Harm? - Popular Mechanics

AI assistant hacks gym website in first known Australian autonomous cyber attack – ABC

A New Class of Cuddly Mascots Is Selling Everything From AI to Tap Water – Wall Street Journal

An A.I. was able to create 16 viruses not found in nature after scientists trained it on DNA libraries – New York Times

Stanford's Use of AI Questioned

Stanford University used AI to replace a Latino man with a fictitious Black woman on banners displayed on campus. The faces of the other students in the banner were also edited with AI tools, to make them appear slimmer. Stanford officials said the use of AI violated university policy, and the school has removed the welcome banners. -San Francisco Standard