An economics professor at Brown University found evidence of likely widespread cheating with artificial intelligence after making the final exam for the class in-person, meaning students had no opportunity to use the technology.
Roberto Serrano gave his students a take-home midterm this spring semester for the first time since the start of his teaching career, according to a July 8 report from Inside Higher Ed.
He made the decision because of a December shooting at the school, over which some students were still uncomfortable.
Inside Higher Ed reported that Serrano “regretted the decision.”
The professor suspected that dozens of students used AI to cheat and earn perfect or nearly perfect scores — resulting in a class average of 96 percent.
“Historically the average grade in the midterm of this course has ranged between 65 and 80 [percent], and this exam was harder than the exams I wrote in the past,” Serrano told the outlet.
He noted that the exam was made harder than usual because “take-home is an opportunity to challenge the class a little bit more, given that you’re giving the students unlimited time.”
Serrano and his graders found that they could produce similar answers as their students using ChatGPT, which spit out “kind of correct, but very off and with a very convoluted style.”
In a message students, Serrano said that he would be hosting an in-person final, and would give the class a chance to prove that AI had not inflated their scores.
“If the distribution of the final exam is roughly similar to the distribution of the midterm, I will count the midterm,” he said.
“Otherwise, which is of course what I expect to happen, I will declare the midterm void and reweigh the final accordingly.”
In response, 18 students dropped the class, nine skipped the final altogether, and three students earned a zero.
The average class score on the final was a dismal 48.6 percent — an historic low for the course, which in previous years saw average final scores of 65 percent.
Inside Higher Ed reported that “only a few students scored similarly to how they did on the midterm.”
Serrano sent his findings to Brown’s Standing Committee on the Academic Code in May, but he did not receive a response.
Only after he went public did the body tell him to submit individual complaints against each student suspected of cheating on the midterm, as well as provide copies of the students’ exams.
“What they are asking is ridiculous,” Serrano remarked.
“I believe they plan to run them through some AI-detection tool, which is well-known to give many false positives and false negatives,” the professor added.
“Their response, I must tell you, is seen as appalling and insufficient by hundreds of people who have emailed me in support, many of them Brown alumni.”
Brown University representative Brian Clark insisted in a statement to Inside Higher Ed that the school would take the claims seriously.
“Brown treats every allegation of academic integrity with the utmost seriousness,” he said.
“In regard to this economics course, multiple academic leaders from Brown were in touch with the faculty member who raised concerns to provide details about how the allegations raised could be formally adjudicated.”
“To date, the faculty member has not provided the necessary details to the Standing Committee on the Academic Code to pursue this path toward resolution.”
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