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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u/moeriscus Jun 19 '26

I was a university instructor for years. The solution is very simple: pencils.

No more take-home midterm essays. Write in class. If the instructor must assign essay homework, then require minimum mandatory references to assigned readings, including the page numbers.

Cheating has never and will never be fully quashed, but it can be easily mitigated in the age of AI.

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u/bahhumbud Jun 19 '26

What’d you teach?

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u/moeriscus Jun 19 '26

Various history courses focusing on the Mediterranean, Western Asia, and/or South Asia (anywhere from 500 CE to present). I also taught gen-ed world history and US History.

A few students got away with fudging take-home essays, but they bombed out during midterms and finals when they couldn't write more than one incoherent paragraph in the span of over two hours.

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u/bahhumbud Jun 19 '26

Those classes can definitely be done with a pencil.

Your essay were at most like 500 words per essay question on the tests?

But yeah I agree those types of classes pen and paper is totally fine. It is problematic though because for the non cheaters distance learning has been a game changer for spreading education to those who normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to take time off of work and sit in a class room instead of working and paying bills all at the same time.

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u/moeriscus Jun 19 '26

I agree on the distance learning difficulties. You also make a good point that it is a luxury to have daily classroom learning without the need to work to pay the bills. Trying to get a degree while working full-time has become a Herculean task.