A University of Córdoba link used as bait to promote AI virtual girlfriend apps

By Universidad de Córdoba (UCO) · October 15, 2026.

There is no story to tell. All that came through was a keyword-style title («Paradot Vs AI Girlfriend App Character AI Alternative Reddit With Voice») and a URL. No article content was downloaded, so we cannot attribute any facts about Paradot, Character AI or any other app.

What we can see is the URL itself. It sits on the UCO domain (uco.es), but the path is that of a virtual tour from the SCAI service. It also carries an `xml=` parameter with base64 data. Decoded, it appears to be an instruction to include an XML file hosted on a github.io subdomain unrelated to the university. We have not opened that file and cannot confirm its contents. But the structure fits a known pattern: exploiting a legitimate viewer that accepts parameters without validating them, so that a reputable page serves or links to content that is not its own.

Our take: there is no reason to believe the UCO has published a comparison of virtual companions. Most likely this is abusive SEO (spam that piggybacks on trusted domains to slip into search engines and aggregators). This is a hypothesis based solely on the URL, not a proven fact, and we do not accuse any specific person of it.

The underlying topic does deserve analysis, but not with this source. AI companions are a real and growing market, with serious questions about emotional dependence, privacy and minors. We will cover it when there is a reliable source. In the meantime, be wary of links with encoded parameters, even when the domain is institutional.