A University of Córdoba URL used as spam bait about “AI virtual girlfriends”

By University of Córdoba (UCO) · October 13, 2026.

There is no news story to discuss. The feed carries a commercial-sounding headline («ai girlfriend app good or bad virtual girlfriends reviewed 2026») tied to an address on the uco.es domain. It is not an article but the page of a virtual tour of the Central Research Support Service (SCAI).

The URL carries an `xml` parameter with a base64-encoded block. Decoding it reveals a tag for krpano, a 360° panorama viewer, which includes an XML file hosted on a GitHub Pages site unrelated to the university. We have not downloaded or assessed that file, so we do not know what it contains. What we can see is that the link lacks any verifiable editorial content.

Our reading: this looks like a well-known SEO spam technique. External content is injected into pages on reputable domains so that search engines associate them with lucrative terms, such as those for AI companion apps. There is no indication that the university published it. Most likely it is a vulnerability in the page's viewer, and this is our inference, not a confirmed fact.

The thread is nonetheless of interest. Virtual partner apps are a niche that drives traffic and money, and it attracts those looking to exploit it with low-quality links. That is why this topic needs primary sources rather than search results of dubious origin. When we have real data on their effect on loneliness, privacy or mental health, we will return with our own analysis.

For now, we do not recommend opening the link.