tech
Suspecting AI cheating, Ivy League prof ordered an in-person final; scores fell 50%
AI cheating leads to “a failed society,” professor says.
TL;DR
- A Brown University economics professor observed extraordinarily high midterm scores after switching to take-home exams.
- The average midterm score was 96 out of 100, with 40 students achieving perfect scores, a significant increase from historical averages of 65-80%.
- When the professor made the final exam in-person, the average score dropped to 48, and 18 students who had scored 100 on the midterm dropped the course.
- The professor, Roberto Serrano, suspects widespread use of generative AI for cheating, citing the convoluted style of some answers and similar outputs from ChatGPT.
- Serrano fears that such cheating by "best young minds" is leading towards a "failed society" and a decline in critical thinking.