Students and teachers at the nation's highest centers of learning are using artificial intelligence to spot cheaters as much as they are to prove innocence, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
The war in Ukraine has shown the modern battlefield evolve into drones battling for arial supremacy. Now America's classrooms have pitted competing artificial intelligence bots against each other as teachers try to sniff out cheaters and students attempt to preemptively prove their work is their own. The outlet spoke to 21-year-old Northeastern University student Miles Pulvers who said he's had to adapt to the new reality of asking AI to check his work for human touches before his professors use AI with the same intentions.
"I take great pride in my writing," said Pulvers. "Before AI, I had peace of mind that whatever I would submit would be accepted. Now I see some of my writing being flagged as possibly being AI-generated when it's not. It's kind of annoying, but it's part of the deal in 2025."
A 2024 study from Campus Technology showed that 86% of students use AI in their school work with 24% saying they use it daily and 54% saying they rely on the technology on a weekly basis.
Leticia Villasenor, a history teacher at a private Los Angeles high school, said AI has become a regular tool to spot cheating in her classroom. "They're using AI to write their essays, and then they use AI detectors to humanize them," she said adding "I try to have my students do as many written assignments as possible in class, because if it's homework, half of them will use AI."
Devan Leos, co-founder of Undetectable AI which makes a popular AI detector and "humanizer" told the outlet that it's the students who use grammar-checking tools or those who learned to write more formally that often get accused of cheating. Notable red flags include the use of less common words such as "delve" and "tapestry" and phrases like "valuable insight" and "crucial role." "It's like you get penalized for being a proper writer," Leos added.
It's not just students who need to be prepared in the world of AI as job seekers and hiring managers have started playing the game of digital cat and mouse. In October, Greg Yang, one of 12 co-founders at Elon Musk's xAI venture, posted how he caught a prospective candidate cheating with AI during a job interview. "I wasn't even mad. Just very curious about people cheat in interviews these days. So we had a nice chat at the end where they taught me all the tricks," Yang said.
Last week, Pope Leo XIV labeled AI as the critical challenge facing humanity as he begins his tenue saying it will require "responsibility and discernment" to deploy AI's "immense potential" to benefit rather than degrade humankind.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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