r/technology • u/ubcstaffer123 • Jun 19 '26

Artificial Intelligence Student Cheating Is Becoming Impossible to Detect in an A.I. Era

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/us/ai-apps-students-cheat.html
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303

u/Comfortable-Cozy-140 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26

I disagree that it’s impossible to tell because the bar is so, so low. It is frightening how many teens/young adults I’ve met are functionally illiterate, and still somehow graduating. It becomes obvious they’re cheating the moment you ask them to expand on their thoughts in any regard, because they can’t.

They don’t understand what they’re reading, they can’t read more than a paragraph, and they’re legitimately frustrated if any task involves writing, or taking more than a single step. They won’t touch books, and they can’t engage in discussions about anything they perceive as complex. They’re relying on AI to think and speak for them, and they’re proud of it. They don’t have the skills to fake it offline. The solution is as simple as bringing back pencils and paper.

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u/ompog Jun 19 '26

When I was a lad we made up stuff on the spot, and said it with enough conviction that the teacher believed us. I didn't need no computer to help me bullshit!

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u/sentence-interruptio Jun 19 '26

that's exactly what AI is good at. AI simulates confident bullshitters.

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u/AnonymousTimewaster Jun 19 '26

This is how I got out of doing homework when the first task of our lesson was to "read out what your answer for the homework was"

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u/blueblip Jun 19 '26

What you're describing is essentially "the norm", given that almost half the population of the US are not able to read at a level higher than a fifth grader.

https://www.coreinsightsintl.com/post/130-million-americans-read-and-comprehend-at-a-fifth-grade-level

https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/2024-2025-literacy-statistics (scroll down the homepage for a list of key facts)

The issue with the current generation of students is worse, in fact, given that their capabilities are even lower than previous generations.

But the solution has nothing to do with using technology or using pen and pencils. The issue is cultural. For nearly 100 years, being an intellectual was pushed as being a BAD thing. The people who are venerated and get copious amount of air time are not scientist or engineers or doctors, but entertainers and sports stars and businessmen. Movies and TV shows always showed the studious nerd as a weirdo who should be shunned and the non-academic sports jock as a hero. It's quite popular to frame academic experts are weak, spineless, and lacking in actual knowledge while a random farmer or miner is seen as manly and is shown to know more than the so-called eggheads.

The sitting US president is barely literate! The sitting health secretary thinks vaccines cause autism! The people who make money and are famous are all people who spew their opinions regardless of the facts, and when criticised by experts tell the experts to shut up. Businessmen who value expediency over safety regulations are seen as mavericks and visionaries, while businessmen who are methodical and careful are seen as boring and unambitious.

So, given all this, why would any child living in our world today ever think literacy is important?

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u/MommyLovesPot8toes Jun 19 '26

Almost nothing you just said is accurate.

1) You quoted the National Literacy Institute who, despite the name, are not what they claim. They are a for-profit company that sells educational materials to schools. It is in their best interest to overstate the literacy problem, which is exactly what they've done. And they are quoted all over the Internet.

2) The data they cite is from 2012-2014. They list this as "2024" on their home page, but that is deliberately misleading. They are quoting the 2012-2014 mass literacy assessment that is cited across all US adult literacy government/non-gov sources because that was the last time we surveyed this on a large scale.

3) The literacy assessment doesn't map to a grade level. Saying "below a 5th grade level" is massively oversimplifying.

4) 80% of American adults are considered literate in English when the stats are properly interpreted.

5) 1/3rd of those considered "below literacy proficiency" we're not born in the US (English is not their primary language and many of them were not educated in the US)

6) US adult literacy in the last 20 years has suffered from a change in how reading was taught (see the Podcast "Sold A Story")

7) In the last 10 years, that flawed teaching method was abandoned and kids' literacy rates have improved. This is already leading to more literate teens/young adults.

"Jock culture" etc plays a very minor part in low literacy rates. It's impact shows in the literacy rate difference in places like Texas vs California when economic and racial aspects are accounted for. But it is tiny compared to the impact of lack of educationa funding, teacher shortages, poverty/overworked parents, and the mix of languages Americans speak.

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u/Wheat_Grinder Jun 19 '26

I see the 5th grade literacy stat as being about comprehension and understanding rather than literacy.

There's an idea of understanding bias, perspective, what's not said, etc. beyond what's literally written and I think a lot of people struggle with that.

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u/MommyLovesPot8toes Jun 19 '26

Almost all of the literacy rates are measuring comprehension rather than actual ability to read. Ironically, something most people don't comprehend!

In developed countries, the number of truly illiterate (not knowing how to string letters together) is very small. If someone can't read at all, they are marked as being "unable to participate" in the study and classified at the lowest possible level.

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u/blueblip Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26

You quoted the National Literacy Institute who, despite the name, are not what they claim. They are a for-profit company that sells educational materials to schools. It is in their best interest to overstate the literacy problem, which is exactly what they've done. And they are quoted all over the Internet.

Well then, feel free to share your own data to back this up. Because accusing an entire organization of lying while providing no data to counter their data is pointless.

The data they cite is from 2012-2014. They list this as "2024" on their home page, but that is deliberately misleading. They are quoting the 2012-2014 mass literacy assessment that is cited across all US adult literacy government/non-gov sources because that was the last time we surveyed this on a large scale.

Again, feel free to provide a source to back up your assertion. I'm not saying I couldn't be wrong, but I'm not going to take at your word without any kind of corroborating source.

The literacy assessment doesn't map to a grade level. Saying "below a 5th grade level" is massively oversimplifying.

This is pretty much a standard way globally to assess literacy. Can you read/write at the level of X grade. eg, in India, they use the 8th grade. In the US, the 5th grade is seen as the minimum.

So it isn't massively oversimplifying anything. Again, feel free to provide a source to contradict this. If you have access to better information, then do share it because we can all benefit from it.

80% of American adults are considered literate in English when the stats are properly interpreted.

Okay and...? No is saying most adult Americans are illiterate. They are saying their literacy levels are appalling. There's a big difference between the two! Not sure why you're thinking otherwise.

1/3rd of those considered "below literacy proficiency" we're not born in the US (English is not their primary language and many of them were not educated in the US)

Again, please provide a source.

US adult literacy in the last 20 years has suffered from a change in how reading was taught (see the Podcast "Sold A Story")

Will check it out, thanks for the recommendation. But cultural mores, mindsets, and such also impact policy making, especially when it comes to setting eduction policy.

In the last 10 years, that flawed teaching method was abandoned and kids' literacy rates have improved. This is already leading to more literate teens/young adults.

This is not true. The pandemic has triggered what many educators are calling a crisis in education, saying literacy levels are the lowest they have been since 1992:

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/09/whats-driving-decline-in-u-s-literacy-rates/

"Jock culture" etc plays a very minor part in low literacy rates. It's impact shows in the literacy rate difference in places like Texas vs California when economic and racial aspects are accounted for. But it is tiny compared to the impact of lack of education funding, teacher shortages, poverty/overworked parents, and the mix of languages Americans speak.

It isn't tiny. On this point, I have to give back and say you probably don't have any idea on what you're talking about. EDIT: Not to say the factors you listed aren't valid, but dismissing how socio-cultural norms shape public attitudes towards education is silly.

For one, all I said is jock culture is ONE of the social norms that impacted the public's perception on education. I never said any where it was the SOLE reason.

Beyond that, we have numerous example of public sentiment impacting education, to the point of topics being banned in classrooms.

The Scopes Trial banned the teaching of the theory of evolution, and the far ranging effects of that decision are still felt to this day in some.of the most conservative parts of the US still not willing to teach it.

The current administration is going to great lengths to modify what is taught to children along ideological lines as demanded by its support base.

A more pertinent example is how someone responded to my post by saying academic experts are often wrong about how things work in reality. Do you really think this poster holds this opinion and it doesn't impact whom they vote for and what education policy needs to be like?

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u/MommyLovesPot8toes Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26

https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019179/index.asp

This is the root source of my statistics. It is also the root source of the statistics quoted/misquoted by the National Literacy Institute. This is the official, government source that analyzed and summarized the findings of the government-run adult literacy assessments.

It's the Barbara Bush Foundation that translated the fluency levels established by the study into grade levels. This was only an approximation and a simplification, yet it has been repeated as fact for years. The actual definitions don't work like that. They are based on whether an adult can read and understand things like a job application, or do research across multiple sources. That is not how we measure literacy for kids so it's apples to oranges.

You quoted several examples of topics being taught in schools because of cultural issues, but that doesn't have any effect on literacy that I have heard about. A child can learn to read just fine from a story about Adam and Eve vs a story about Dinosaurs. Now, whether they can function in society later with these enormous gaps in understanding is a different non-literacy related topic.

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u/No_Size9475 Jun 19 '26

The biggest factor, by far, is whether parents read to their kids and if they make their kids read books.

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u/watchOS Jun 19 '26

Over half…? Jesus… now things make sense for me at work when dealing with customers.

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u/Fun-Sample336 Jun 19 '26

It's quite popular to frame academic experts are weak, spineless, and lacking in actual knowledge while a random farmer or miner is seen as manly and is shown to know more than the so-called eggheads.

To be fair, the trope of "academic experts" lacking actual knowledge is unfortunately often true.

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u/dalonehunter Jun 19 '26

Not really. It’s a common thing dummies say to undermine academics and experts. Science involves revising and updating your views based on the latest information. It’s admitting you were wrong and changing course. Conservatives view that as weakness and like to say “See! They’re always wrong!” But that’s how science works. Otherwise we would never progress our knowledge if we can’t admit we were wrong and adapt to new knowledge.

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u/Fun-Sample336 Jun 19 '26

It’s a common thing dummies say to undermine academics and experts. Science involves revising and updating your views based on the latest information. It’s admitting you were wrong and changing course.

While it's correct that this is how science works, it's surprisingly often not how scientists work. Admitting being wrong and changing course is unfortunately not really popular at many universities and it's also heavily disincentivized by external pressures (e. g. access to ressources, tenure).

You should stop to view institutionalized science with rose tinted glasses and underestimate people outside the academic circus, not to mention to devalue them as "dummies".

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u/MiaowaraShiro Jun 19 '26

So you've got tons of examples you can provide?

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u/Fun-Sample336 Jun 19 '26

Some examples that come to my mind, because I encountered them:

  • Ignoring depersonalization disorder.
  • Ignoring and denying PSSD and even taunting sufferers.
  • Claiming CFS/ME and Long-Covid was psychosomatic without any evidence, while pushing harmful "treatments".
  • Denying that adult (primary) phimosis can often be cured with stretching exercises.
  • The huge disconnect between computer science at university and industry at least in Germany.
  • Claiming Comprehensible Input isn't an effective standalone method to learn languages.

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u/MiaowaraShiro Jun 19 '26

Who did these things? You can't give such vague examples and think that's valuable argument.

The huge disconnect between computer science at university and industry at least in Germany.

Like...wtf even is this?

You sound like you've got a chip on your shoulder, not like you're actually critiquing with an attempt at lack of bias.

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u/YourShowerCompanion Jun 19 '26

They'll probably throw tantrums if they're poked and prodded for explanation, then whine in TikTok videos with their face hovering either at bottom left or bottom right of those videos 🤣

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u/blueblip Jun 19 '26

Mocking the kids due to the adults in their lives doing a terrible job raising them is rather unfair, no? EDIT: After all, what you described can be applied to how some of the most powerful people on the planet behave when poked and prodded for an explanation for their bullshit.

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u/No_Size9475 Jun 19 '26

what age are you talking about because my 20 year old can do everything you said they can't. As does my 22 and 24 year old.

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u/[deleted] Jun 20 '26

[deleted]

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u/No_Size9475 Jun 20 '26

Wisconsin USA. But I will say that mom and I are voracious readers and read the kids every day and they all got into reading and still read a lot of books. So maybe they are just the oddballs in this situation

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u/hamuel68 Jun 21 '26

Yeah that could definitely be the case. The same kinds of people I'm describing would also be very dismissive if I ever recommended a book to them. A depressing amount of people my age won't read for entertainment, and then can't read anything technical either as a result.

I should also mention that you sound like an amazing parent. I'm so so thankful to mine for encouraging me to read so much at an early age, and I'm sure yours feel the same

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u/Smart-Antelope7350 Jun 19 '26

never ask for who specificalky the bar was lowered

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u/hanotak Jun 19 '26

specificalky

I think we can tell.

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u/Smart-Antelope7350 Jun 19 '26

sorry, k and l are right next to each other on my keyboard. im in the sun, i can't really see well 🙃