Some fascinating historical trivia today for any card players. 150 years ago today, on 2 August 1876, Wild Bill Hickok was killed while playing poker in Deadwood. The cards reportedly in his hand became one of gambling’s most famous combinations, two black Aces and two black Eights.

If you're using AI agents to vibe code through your local machine, please make sure it's protected. A Reddit user has shared how access to his local machine was shared to various Russian users, who could approve permissions, one of whom asked it to build a GTA-style game #techethics

A new reality series for Netflix is set to feature the latest in deep fake voice technology, only this time it's use is approved by Gene Wilder's estate. But should this technology be used to turn a deceased performer into a commercial asset? #techethics

I asked the GPT-5.6 Sol agent managing my server to harden it against security risks. I think it's decided I'm the biggest security risk.

Fable 5 report - we’ve noticed patterns of hidden text in input that look like prompt injection techniques Fable 5 asked for checks - our safeguards have flagged this message (all paraphrased - I did find a solution - server admin is fun)

What could possibly go wrong for Meta for their Muse Image launch on 7 July, technology to allow users to generate AI images by referencing any public Instagram account's photos and likeness? Well, they missed the #techethics concerns and Meta quite rightly pulled Muse on 10 July after complaints.

Another day in London, another electric bike user deciding that red traffic lights don't apply to him and attempting to run me over. At least this person turned his head and said sorry, although I'd be more convinced he meant it if he'd also slowed down while he said it.

Today's fun has been receiving multiple requests from the same person for datasets from research conducted years ago, all requests clearly written by GenAI, and asking all kinds of irrelevant questions. They aren't available, but if they were, they'd go into automated analysis #researchintegrity

Interesting news story breaking today that, in these days of political scrutiny, OpenAI has proposed giving the US Government a 5% stake. To me, this further highlights the need for local models and for international alternatives to the major AI firm offerings to be available #techethics

I'm pleased that we can finally announce the theme for this year's International Day of Action for Academic Integrity, which takes place on Wednesday 21 October 2026. It is the rather catchy "Recipes for Integrity: Sharing your signature dish". #academicintegrity

Ever wondered if there’s a link between tutoring companies and contract cheating? Well, Shahid Adnan made more than £300,000 through his company Study Sharp Ltd. He’s now been rewarded with three years of accommodation at the expense of the tax payer #academicintegrity

A new Reddit movement is poisoning AI search results. Did you see the reports that Donald Trump and JD Vance had died of rabies? I couldn’t quickly convince AI safety filters to sketch the results seen on DuckDuckGo, but a similar (fake) example is in the image #techethics

Presenting at #UKSTEMConf26 today at 15:00, where I will try to deliver what should be three #academicintegrity talks in 15 minutes, on one of the hottest days of the year, including a never-before-shared component too controversial for me to put in the abstract. I’m assuming this is not recorded.

Attempting to reach #UKSTEMConf26 may be the most frustrating day of travel I’ve had in years. Even Google Maps and Citymapper are showing different cancellations. Now on my third attempted route. Slowly edging closer, and hoping to make it for lunch. A shame to miss so many interesting sessions.

20 years ago (and 2 days - too busy a week), I gave a little research presentation at a plagiarism conference (with an accompanying written paper) which turned out to be quite well received a decade or so later when people started to take notice #contractcheating

Saw Toy Story 5 at a quietly pleasant screen this morning, of interest mostly due to the topical satirical plot of screen addicted children, online bullying, and short attention spans.

Guy Curtis here raises a fun but serious point. Wearable technology in the shape of jewellery is fast growing in popularity. We talk in higher education about smartglasses, smartwatches, hidden earpieces and the like, but so much cheating technology is hidden in plain sight. #academicintegrity

The UK Government today confirmed long-talked about plans to ban young people from using #socialmedia, with a tiered series of measures aimed at protecting under 16s, 17s and 18s. But is this opening up children to other dangers? A thread follows.

I’ve come across a lot of bizarre #researchintegrity stories in the last few years, but the recent reports of an apparently fictitious medical research group exploiting travel grants to present fake research at real conferences has to be near the top of the list.

The UK's independent quality regulator Ofqual have today launched their new video podcast series (link in first reply) with an interview with the Chief Regulator of Qualifications, Sir Ian Bauckham, covering gadget and technology enabled exam cheating in schools #academicintegrity

Are you (or your children) looking forward to the upcoming animated series Punky Duck? How about watching K-Pop musicians travelling through space? Or seeing what happens at a cupcake sleepover? All three series are coming soon to Amazon Prime video. And all are using the latest #GenAI technology.

It turns out that the latest image generation trend using ChatGPT Image 2.0 isn’t hyper realism, but instead it is child scribble style drawings #GenAI

Claude Design reverse engineered into an open source product called Open Design (announcement below)? What's the catch? In case you've not used Claude Design, it's a powerful #GenAI design tool. Since its release I've used it to automate videos, design fonts, and even made poster creation software.

As we start another working week with #GenAI there to make our lives easier, what if there are fields where AI is actually increasing workloads? There’s recent discussion saying that software engineers are now facing a modern version of an 1865 dilemma from the coal mining industry #techethics

Is this the best infographic of all time? It is, according to the new #ChatGPT Images 2.0 model. The new model is producing impressive designs and text. With this, Claude Design, and the right promoting skills, we’re seeing quite a step change in consumer level visual generation capabilities.

The days of students (and everyone else) receiving heavily subsidised access to #GenAI tools appear to be over. We’re seeing reduced usage limits, restrictions on API access, and ever increasing advertising levels.

William Shatner has let out a desperate plea, as images of his battle with brain cancer flood the Internet. The plea is for no one to be taken in by the images #techethics

In the background this weekend, I decided to put my #Replit subscription to use, with #ChatGPT integration as its manager. ChatGPT decided what would best help my workflow would be for me to have a system to generate the types of content I often ask it to help with.

First time, I think, I’ve been quoted in a media article mentioning the Prime Minister #techethics www.theguardian.com/technology/...

Starmer vows to tackle social media’s ‘addictive features’ to protect children

Prime minister says UK must do more to regulate against potential harms after landmark ruling in US court

theguardian.com

I've previously shared the excellent student research looking at how institutional culture shapes student academic misconduct, but there were other many highlights and new findings at the Researching Academic Integrity Student Conference 2026.