AI cold outreach flood: professor gets 75 PhD inquiries months before 2027 cycle
random_walker · x · 2026-09-13
Professor Arvind Narayanan laments that AI agents are killing cold outreach: months before the Fall 2027 PhD admissions cycle, he has already received 75 inquiries, expected to grow exponentially until December—one of 10-15 categories of unsolicited email he gets. He also flags a new wave of spam/extortion from a company called iLands running unmonitored agents. Responding to critics, he notes that as a student growing up in India without connections, cold emails were his way to reach prominent researchers; AI-generated personalized spam erases the distinction between mass mail and genuine outreach, hurting those without networks.
More from AGI Musings
- Dean Ball predicts a disinformation campaign against METR and safety groups — deanwball · 2026-09-13
- If AI labs believed the safety hype, why not just slow down on their own? — 0xAllen_ · 2026-09-13
- Professor jokes campuses may need 'AI Anonymous' groups for students hooked on AI — IanArawjo · 2026-09-13
- Sam Altman backs Dario on frontier pacing, says OpenAI will allow independent evaluators — karlwaldman · 2026-09-13
- Free AI Manifesto written nine years ago resurfaces: AI must not be censored or controlled — RSync25 · 2026-09-13
- French commentator: AI safety rhetoric masks financial panic ahead of lab IPOs — GeorgiaChal · 2026-09-13