![The Devil is in the Det[ai]ls: AI Agents, Ghost Students, and the Crisis of Verified Presence in an Agentic AI World Cover](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsciendo-parsed.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com%2Fubiquity%2F6a8e81763863e7cf7c8db7c2%2Fcover-image.png&w=3840&q=75)
The Devil is in the Det[ai]ls: AI Agents, Ghost Students, and the Crisis of Verified Presence in an Agentic AI World
References
- Acharya, D. B., Kuppan, K., & Divya, B. (2025). Agentic AI: Autonomous intelligence for complex goals—A comprehensive survey. IEEE Access, 13, 18912–18936. 10.1109/access.2025.3532853
- Anthropic. (n.d.). Using Claude in Chrome safely. Claude Help Center.
https://support.claude.com/en/articles/12902428-using-claude-in-chrome-safely - Artsın, M., & Bozkurt, A. (2025). Charting new horizons: What agentic artificial intelligence (AI) promises in the educational landscape. In Proceedings of 17th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies Conference (EDULEARN25) (pp. 2019–2023).
30 June–2 July, 2025 . Palma, Mallorca, Spain. 10.21125/edulearn.2025.0585 - Artsın, M., & Bozkurt, A. (2026).
Dreams, distortions, and disruptions: Deconstructing the educational promises of agentic AI . In A. Bozkurt (Ed.), Rethinking Education and Agency in the Age of Human-Generative AI Interaction (pp. 1–18). IGI Global Scientific Publishing. 10.4018/979-8-3373-1195-1.ch001 - Awadallah Alkouk, W., & Khlaif, Z. N. (2024). AI-resistant assessments in higher education: Practical insights from faculty training workshops. Frontiers in Education, 9, Article
1499495 . 10.3389/feduc.2024.1499495 - Bandi, A., Kongari, B., Naguru, R., Pasnoor, S., & Vilipala, S. V. (2025). The rise of agentic AI: A review of definitions, frameworks, architectures, applications, evaluation metrics, and challenges. Future Internet, 17(9). 10.3390/fi17090404
- Bastani, H., Bastani, O., Sungu, A., Ge, H., Kabakcı, Ö., & Mariman, R. (2025). Generative AI without guardrails can harm learning: Evidence from high school mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(26), Article
e2422633122 . 10.1073/pnas.2422633122 - Bozkurt, A. (2024). GenAI et al.: Cocreation, Authorship, Ownership, Academic Ethics and Integrity in a Time of Generative AI. Open Praxis, 16(1), 1–10. 10.55982/openpraxis.16.1.654
- Bozkurt, A. (2025). The Three Laws of Artificial Intelligence: Re-Evaluating Human-AI Agency and Interaction in a Time of the Generative and Agentic AI Ren[ai]ssance. Open Praxis, 17(3), 421–428. 10.55982/openpraxis.17.3.794
- Bozkurt, A. (2026). Rethinking Education and Agency in the Age of Human-Generative AI Interaction. IGI Global Scientific Publishing. 10.4018/979-8-3373-1195-1
- Bozkurt, A., Xiao, J., Lambert, S., Pazurek, A., Crompton, H., Koseoglu, S., Farrow, R., Bond, M., Nerantzi, C., Honeychurch, S., Bali, M., Dron, J., Mir, K., Stewart, B., Costello, E., Mason, J., Stracke, C. M., Romero-Hall, E., Koutropoulos, A., Toquero, C. M., Singh, L., Tlili, A., Lee, K., Nichols, M., Ossiannilsson, E., Brown, M., Irvine, V., Raffaghelli, J. E., Santos-Hermosa, G Farrell, O., Adam, T., Thong, Y. L., Sani-Bozkurt, S., Sharma, R. C., Hrastinski, S., & Jandrić, P. (2023). Speculative futures on ChatGPT and generative artificial intelligence (AI): A collective reflection from the educational landscape. Asian Journal of Distance Education, 18(1), 53–130. 10.5281/zenodo.7636568
- Brohi, S., Mastoi, Q.-u.-a., Jhanjhi, N. Z., & Pillai, T. R. (2025). A Research Landscape of Agentic AI and Large Language Models: Applications, Challenges and Future Directions. Algorithms, 18(8),
499 . 10.3390/a18080499 - Brown, J. (2025, November 4). Action recommended: New AI browsers can complete Canvas quizzes. Here’s how to secure them. The Institute for Learning and Teaching, Colorado State University.
https://tilt.colostate.edu/new-ai-browsers-can-complete-canvas-quizzes/ - Burke, D., & Crompton, H. (2025).
Navigating the future: Reflections on AI in higher education . In H. Crompton & D. Burke (Eds.), Artificial Intelligence Applications in Higher Education: Theories, Ethics, and Case Studies for Universities (pp. 1–8). Routledge. 10.4324/9781003440178-1 - Burrett, B., & Gore, D. (2025). The latest front in the battle for academic integrity: Initial thoughts in response to the rise of AI agents. Anthology.
https://www.anthology.com/blog/initial-thoughts-in-response-to-the-rise-of-ai-agents - Crompton, H., & Burke, D. (2023). Artificial intelligence in higher education: The state of the field. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 20(22). 10.1186/s41239-023-00392-8
- Crompton, H., & Burke, D. (2024). The educational affordances and challenges of ChatGPT: State of the field. TechTrends, 68, 380–392 10.1007/s11528-024-00939-0
- Du, Y., Huang, W., Zheng, D., Wang, Z., Montella, S., Lapata, M., Wong, K.-F., & Pan, J. Z. (2025). Rethinking memory in AI: Taxonomy, operations, topics, and future directions. arXiv. 10.48550/arXiv.2505.00675
- Eaton, S. E., & Carmichael, J. J. (2023).
Fake Degrees and Credential Fraud, Contract Cheating, and Paper Mills: Overview and Historical Perspectives . In: Eaton, S.E., Carmichael, J.J., Pethrick, H. (Eds), Fake Degrees and Fraudulent Credentials in Higher Education. Ethics and Integrity in Educational Contexts, vol 5. Springer, Cham. 10.1007/978-3-031-21796-8_1 - Gulyamov, S., Gulyamov, S., Rodionov, A., Khursanov, R., Mekhmonov, K., Babaev, D., & Rakhimjonov, A. (2026). Prompt injection attacks in large language models and AI agent systems: A comprehensive review of vulnerabilities, attack vectors, and defense mechanisms. Information, 17(1),
54 . 10.3390/info17010054 - Kofinas, A. K., Tsay, C. H.-H., & Pike, D. (2025). The impact of generative AI on academic integrity of authentic assessments within a higher education context. British Journal of Educational Technology, 56(6), 2522–2549. 10.1111/bjet.13585
- Kostopoulos, G., Gkamas, V., Rigou, M., & Kotsiantis, S. (2025). Agentic AI in education: State of the art and future directions. IEEE Access, 13, 154133–154157. 10.1109/access.2025.3620473
- Laperdrix, P., Bielova, N., Baudry, B., & Avoine, G. (2020). Browser fingerprinting: A survey. ACM Transactions on the Web, 14(2). 10.1145/3386040
- MEF University Center for Research and Best Practice in Learning and Teaching. (2026, January). AI agents: A new era in higher education. MEF University.
https://www.mef.edu.tr/en/celt/yapay-zeka-ajanlari-yuksekogretimde-yeni-donem - Meng, L., Feng, H., Shumailov, I., & Fernandes, E. (2025). ceLLMate: Sandboxing Browser AI Agents. arXiv. 10.48550/arXiv.2512.12594
- Mudryi, M., Chaklosh, M., & Wójcik, G. (2025). The hidden dangers of browsing AI agents. arXiv. 10.48550/arXiv.2505.13076
- National Education Association. (2025). Federal regulations related to artificial intelligence.
https://www.nea.org/sites/default/files/2025-06/5.1-ai-policy-overview-of-federal-regulations-final.pdf - Proctorio. (2025, November 18). November 18, 2025. Proctorio Changes.
https://changes.proctorio.com/november-18-2025-327249 - Sallay, D. (2024, April). Vetting generative AI tools for use in schools. Future of Privacy Forum.
https://fpf.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Ed_AI_legal_compliance.pdf_FInal_OCT24.pdf - Sapkota, R., Roumeliotis, K. I., & Karkee, M. (2026). AI agents vs. agentic AI: A conceptual taxonomy, applications and challenges. Information Fusion, 126,
103599 . 10.1016/j.inffus.2025.103599 - Shavit, Y., Agarwal, S., Brundage, M., Adler, S., O’Keefe, C., Campbell, R., … & Robinson, D. G. (2023). Practices for governing agentic AI systems. Research Paper, OpenAI.
https://cdn.openai.com/papers/practices-for-governing-agentic-ai-systems.pdf - Xiao, K., & He, Y. (2025). Adaptive AI Agent Systems for Personalized Learning: Frameworks, Algorithms, and Practical Applications in Education. 2025 5th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Education (ICAIE), 108–112. 10.1109/icaie64856.2025.11158641
- Xu, D., Mirolyubov, E., & Watts. (2025). Cybersecurity must block AI browsers for now. Gartner Research.
https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/7211030 - Yang, J., Yonack, N., Zyskowski, K., Yarats, D., Ho, J., & Ma, J. (2025). The Adoption and Usage of AI Agents: Early Evidence from Perplexity. arXiv. 10.48550/arXiv.2512.07828
- Zhang, J. (2025). AI Agents in Education: Four Trends and a Practical Workflow. Proceedings of the AAAI Symposium Series, 5(1), 131–132. 10.1609/aaaiss.v5i1.35578
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55982/openpraxis.18.1.1145 | Journal eISSN: 2304-070X
Language: English
Page range: 1 - 12
Submitted on: Jan 28, 2026
Accepted on: Feb 7, 2026
Published on: Feb 24, 2026
Published by: International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Keywords:
© 2026 Aras Bozkurt, Helen Crompton, Caroline Fell Kurban, published by International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.