AI is killing cold email: professor gets 75 PhD inquiries months before Fall 2027 cycle
xuanalogue · x · 2026-09-17
Security researcher Arvind Narayanan reports AI is destroying cold outreach: months before the Fall 2027 PhD admissions cycle he has already received 75 inquiries, expecting exponential growth through December — and that's just one of 10-15 categories of unsolicited email he gets. Worse, a new wave of spam/extortion comes from a company called iLands that lets people run unmonitored agents. His takeaway: there has never been a better time to write a genuine email, as the separating equilibrium is sharper than ever.
Related event: AI-Fueled Cold Emails Flood Professor with 75 PhD Inquiries(2 posts)→
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