To ensure academic integrity and prevent plagiarism, the Paris Institute of Political Studies has banned the use of ChatGPT, the new chatbot capable of instantly writing essays. Without transparent referencing, students are forbidden to use the software for any written work or presentations, except for specific course purposes. The sanctions for use of the software may go as far as exclusion from the institution.

Headteachers and university lecturers are concerned that ChatGPT, which can provide convincing human-sounding answers to exam questions, could spark a wave of cheating in homework and exam coursework. Users can ask questions ranging from simple factual queries to absurd requests and receive coherent responses written in natural English. The output of ChatGPT hasn’t triggered any conventional plagiarism detectors since the text it produces hasn’t been written before, leaving assessors struggling to work out how to identify cheaters.

Following two scandals at National Taiwan University involving two politicians, the president of the Union of Private School Educators called on the Ministry of Education to ensure that university dissertation plagiarism is prevented. Academics are unlikely to blow the whistle on misconduct by politicians studying for degrees. Instead of being compromised by favours from politicians, thesis advisers should instead be gatekeepers of academic ethics.

Following the impact of Covid-19 on the education sector, learning institutions worldwide are adopting digital tools that help assessors identify original content, and are working with their faculty to develop an awareness of academic integrity. The Learning Spiral survey shows over 70 per cent of students in India admitted to cheating in online exams, and others admitted to copying answers word-for-word without offering citations.