No, AI agents did not discover a previously unknown Maya site

<figure> <img alt="" data-caption="“I woke up and checked the agents&#039; reports. &#039;DAMN!&#039; They had found lots of villages and other regular shapes that looked like structures or houses,“ Pietro Miotti wrote on his blog. | Image: &lt;a href=“https://pietromiotti.com/latest/maya-site/”&gt;Pietro Miotti&lt;/a&gt;" data-portal-copyright="Image: &lt;a href=“https://pietromiotti.com/latest/maya-site/”&gt;Pietro Miotti&lt;/a&gt;" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/11/maya-sites.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption> “I woke up and checked the agents' reports. 'DAMN!' They had found lots of villages and other regular shapes that looked like structures or houses,“ Pietro Miotti wrote on his blog. | Image: <a href="//pietromiotti.com/latest/maya-site/”">Pietro Miotti</a> </figcaption> </figure> <p class="wp-block-paragraph"> Armed with a team of AI agents, Google researcher Pietro Miotti claimed earlier this week to have discovered a potentially unmapped Maya site in Mexico. There was just one problem: The site had already been discovered and was published in an academic journal last year. The incident, which <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/indyfromspace.bsky.social/post/3n2235hwwsk2m">sparked criticism</a> among archeologists online, underscores a growing tension in science as amateurs wielding increasingly powerful AI tools parachute into specialist fields, often without the expertise needed to understand what they are looking at.</p> <figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>Local communities are often already well aware of sites in their area.</p></blockquote></figure> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Miotti <a href="https://pietromiotti.com/latest/maya-site/">said</a> the idea to use AI to sea …</p> <p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1032125/ai-agents-maya-site-archeology-discovery">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>