AI/Cheating at U of Colorado Boulder

In my university teaching job, I assign paper topics focused on literature that is not in ChatGPT and other databases. I require extensive quotation. I can catch cheaters and give them 0s without turning them in to the Honor Board, because every time, the AI will hallucinate the fake plot and quotations. If one is particularly egregious, I can turn them in and convict them. But the volume of cheating is too great (and the process too complex) to turn in all of this type of cheater now. It’s sad—they are too tempted.

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Just sent this to my senior Buff and she said she has not heard about it. But wouldn’t be surprised either.

If it was mass and there was no due process, she’d have heard about it - if true.

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I taught university level English courses more than 20 years ago, so the level of cheating was different then. Still, I caught and flunked many students for egregious academic dishonesty then. I still work at a college and at least once a week a student in my section is caught cheating.

What strikes me as odd though in the stories from CU Boulder and even in the article I linked is the presumption that the student is guilty. There is no presumption of innocence. Twenty years ago I had to have hard evidence that a student was presenting someone else’s
work as their own. Now you just run it through a faulty computer program? That doesn’t cut it for me.

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Basically you are dismissing someone else’s lived experience as untrue because in your opinion it is not true.

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If it is someone’s experience but all I’ve heard is a subreddit. No one else above knows about it.

Yea, I don’t believe it but it doesn’t matter. As you said b4, you pointed it out and people could investigate as they want to - and I think that’s fair.

Thank you for bringing it up.

The aspects of the honor code specific to AI and plagiarism seem deliberately escalatory and provide numerous “off ramps” and warnings for faculty to employ. This seems to be a function of how new the technology is and or to give students the benefit of the doubt.

Certainly not dismissing the possibility of failing kids or expulsions but it seems like the school has codified procedures that should give students comfort that they won’t be wrongfully dismissed from the school without numerous opportunities to “fix” the problem. That said it also seems to give professors the ability to act unilaterally up to a point as you describe with no due process.

I would also say that the fact we aren’t reading about these accusations and punishments doesn’t mean they aren’t happening. The colleges have a legal obligation to maintain student confidentiality and students in general would prefer to move on then have their names associated with cheating.

Given that no one would benefit from publicity, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that this isn’t being discussed in the news, even if in fact it is taking place.

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I have a junior Buff. She hasn’t heard anything about it. I work at a college in New England. It’s widespread and some colleges are handling it better than others.