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A senior law student at Istanbul Bilgi University faced disciplinary action for allegedly using AI, ChatGPT to cheat on an exam. The student’s legal battle ended in suspension, causing financial and emotional distress. The case highlights the challenges of AI in maintaining academic integrity and the need for clearer policies.

As the excitement around ChatGPT soared in spring 2023, concerns arose among educators about students potentially relying too much on AI for their assignments. Universities responded by implementing AI detection software, like Turnitin, to identify AI-generated content. However, this led to dilemmas for instructors, particularly when a talented student's essay was flagged as "100% AI-generated." The student claimed innocence, citing the use of university-approved software for grammar and spelling checks, which included limited generative AI capabilities.

Students can utilize chatbots like ChatGPT to generate text, with nearly 90% admitting to doing so in one survey. However, this form of plagiarism, known as ghostwriting, is becoming more detectable as Artificial Intelligence-powered tools like Turnitin and iThenticate improve their ability to identify copied content. Some students attempt to evade detection by using text-spinning programs to paraphrase plagiarized material, but this has led to an ongoing "arms race" between cheaters and detection methods.

At a webinar organized by the University of Nairobi, a professor of curriculum and instruction at Texas Tech University challenged university faculty members to adopt innovative online assessment techniques that limit student cheating and implement academic integrity policies. Cheating can be limited by disabling certain functions, such as copy and paste, and by using software to prohibit access to certain applications, such as email, or to disable screen sharing. Systems whereby teachers are alerted when students attempt to cheat, and authentication can also help curb risks.

Four students at the University of Virginia have been caught cheating using Artificial Intelligence language tools like ChatGPT to complete their essays. When enrolling, all students pledge to follow an honour code and given that this was the first wave of such cheating, the University made this moment work toward the goal of learning. The students confessed to using such systems and agreed to rewrite the assignments themselves.

Internet-based plagiarism detection service provider Turnitin is helping private education organisation NextEd to combat actual and potential academic misconduct including the detection of AI writing tools like ChatGPT—across a cohort of 15,000 domestic and international students. Since implementing Turnitin, NextEd has seen a noticeable increase in levels of understanding of academic integrity, improvements in researching and referencing, a rise in literacy skills, and a dramatic reduction in cases of plagiarism—from 140 to less than 20 cases per year, a drop of more than 85%.

20 Massey University students allegedly caught using ChatGPT to cheat have claimed amnesty in exchange for their confessions. The teaching team offered an amnesty deadline and those who resubmitted their work would receive a maximum mark of 50%. For those who didn’t, a confirmed breach can result in a mark of zero for the assessment or a failure for the whole course.

According to a survey conducted by Education Sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA), most universities in East Africa struggled to uphold the integrity of examinations that were administered online during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lead investigator at ESSA reports that students used materials prohibited during the examinations or breached university examination policies. Uganda and Kenya had the highest number of universities that struggled, at 31% and 27%, respectively.

A student developed his own artificial intelligence (AI) app to stop cheating using essay-writing bots. After a project on his university course asked him to integrate AI with education, he felt the need to create the software start-up AIED.UK to prevent inequality in academic settings. The student thinks of AIED.UK as a "transitional phase" to prevent cheating whilst universities adapt to new technologies.