A University of Córdoba URL used as spam bait is not a news story about virtual girlfriends

By Universidad de Córdoba (UCO) · 13 October 2026.

The material we received contains no facts about AI companions, Trustpilot reviews or Reddit discussions. The «title» is a string of keywords («ai girlfriend trustpilot ai companion reddit review long term») stuck onto the university's name. The description repeats the same thing. There is no article text.

The URL points to the UCO's SCAI virtual tour page, but with a very long `xml=` parameter. That parameter carries base64-encoded data. Decoded, it appears to be an instruction for the page's 360° panorama viewer, which would load an XML file hosted on a GitHub Pages domain unrelated to the university. We have not downloaded or opened that resource, so we cannot say what it contains.

This pattern is well known in the industry: an old or poorly configured web viewer on a reputable domain is exploited to place third-party links or content. Those behind it aim to rank keywords in search engines. We have no evidence that the UCO is involved, and the most plausible explanation is that its page is the victim, not the author.

Our take is brief. With bait like this, automated news curation systems contaminate themselves. Trending topics, such as AI virtual companions, attract spam as strongly as they attract readers. That is why we verify the source before commenting on anything. We are not publishing an opinion on the virtual girlfriend phenomenon based on this material: it would mean filling space with generalities. If the UCO has not already fixed the viewer, it would be wise to do so.