An investigation by Nikkei Asia and other sources has revealed that research papers from 14 academic institutions across eight countries, including Japan, South Korea, and China, contained hidden prompts designed to influence artificial intelligence (AI) tools to provide positive peer reviews. These prompts were often embedded in the papers using white text or very small fonts, making them invisible to human reviewers but readable by AI systems such as ChatGPT. The prompts typically instructed AI reviewers to recommend acceptance of the papers without revisions and to overlook any flaws or negative aspects. This practice has raised concerns about the integrity of the peer review process and the potential manipulation of scientific literature. The affected papers were mostly related to computer science and preprints posted on arXiv. Additionally, a broader study analyzing 15 million biomedical papers found that at least 13.5% of all 2024 publications exhibited signs of large language model (LLM) influence, highlighting the growing impact of AI in academic publishing. Cambridge researchers have warned that the rise of AI-generated fraudulent academic papers is "poisoning" scientific literature, although AI may also be used as a tool to help maintain scientific integrity. This emerging issue underscores the challenges faced by the academic community in adapting peer review processes to the increasing use of AI technologies.