Scholarly journals are reporting a new headache: submissions that include fabricated or AI‑generated citations, forcing editors to add verification steps to peer review. The phenomenon undermines trust in reference lists and is pushing journals to develop new screening protocols for automated content and fabricated sources. Higher‑education researchers are also experimenting with AI as a pedagogical tool. A team of economists built Macro Buddy, a restricted AI tutor used in an undergraduate macroeconomics course, and found students who used the tool alongside peer discussion scored higher on exams. The study suggests controlled, pedagogically designed AI can boost reasoning when integrated with human oversight — even as editors worry about AI‑aided deception in scholarship.