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OT: AI and cheating — Article about Alcorn

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DerHntr

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Sep 18, 2007
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www.today.com

A Professor Created a Trap in His Midterm to Catch Students Using AI. Nearly All Made the Same Mistake

As colleges grapple with the rise of AI, a Mississippi history professor’s creative attempt to protect academic integrity has struck a nerve online.
www.today.com www.today.com

The main point for TLDR folks:

Hidden in white font within the assignment prompt was the word “Madagascar,” placed where it made no contextual sense. Students reading the prompt normally would never see it. But anyone who copied and pasted the prompt into an artificial intelligence chatbot, and then copied the chatbot’s response back into the assignment without reviewing it, would unknowingly include the hidden word in their answer.

“Thirty-two of my 35 students between two classes failed a portion of their midterm because they all used AI to generate their entire response,” he said in a series of TikTok videos explaining what happened. “Apparently they didn’t proofread it.”
 
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DerHntr

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I don’t think faculty will be able to stop cheating as AI increases in functionality. If you don’t see the student doing the work, you have to assume they are using AI at some point. How much they use it is probably a better question than if they use it.
 
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She Mate Me

She Mate Me

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I’ll simply say, based on some firsthand experience, I’m not surprised that this happened or where this happened. But I’m sure it’s common in many places.
 
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dorndawg

dorndawg

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She Mate Me said:
I’ll simply say, based on some firsthand experience, I’m not surprised that this happened or where this happened. But I’m sure it’s common in many places.
Click to expand...
Are you not surprised it happened at Alcorn because it's an HBCU? Or is there something unique to Alcorn or that class? Merely curious.
 
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Wesson Bulldog

Wesson Bulldog

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DerHntr said:
I don’t think faculty will be able to stop cheating as AI increases in functionality. If you don’t see the student doing the work, you have to assume they are using AI at some point. How much they use it is probably a better question than if they use it.
Click to expand...
Faculty may become a thing of the past soon.
 
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GloryDawg

GloryDawg

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I thought I heard a parent whose kid is in MRA that got in trouble for using AI for a paper. I believe he said there is a software they use to check to see if it is AI generated. Not sure.
 
D

DerHntr

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GloryDawg said:
I thought I heard a parent whose kid is in MRA that got in trouble for using AI for a paper. I believe he said there is a software they use to check to see if it is AI generated. Not sure.
Click to expand...
There is software to detect it, but you can prompt your own AI to beat that AI’s checks.
 
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RocketDawg

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GloryDawg said:
I thought I heard a parent whose kid is in MRA that got in trouble for using AI for a paper. I believe he said there is a software they use to check to see if it is AI generated. Not sure.
Click to expand...
That is correct, and it goes beyond just AI, including copying previous papers that were turned in.
 
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Willow Grove Dawg

All-American
Nov 3, 2016
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Hugh's Burner Phone said:
And to think all we had were Cliff's Notes.
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Fraternity test files were somewhat useful. I assume the sororities had them also.
I was shocked when 18 year old freshman me from small town northeast Mississippi learned in the fall of 1984 that lazy-*** members of the faculty utilized the same exact tests semester after semester after semester.
 
dawgstudent

dawgstudent

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Dawg Raid said:
I still have never used AI for any task. Don’t need it
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Knowledge GIF
 
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eckie1

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My son had a dual credit English professor give him (and quite a few others) a zero on his first assignment. She said her software flagged it as AI. This was way wrong because we helped him proofread as he was writing.

We advised him to send her a direct email explaining that this was incorrect and that he wrote it on his own. She accepted that and he ended up with a 100…. Another of his classmates legit got a zero because he definitely cheated.

I use AI at my current job after barely using it at all before. It’s basically a requirement for us. All I know is that it knows a lot, but it’s way too sure of itself and it wrong A LOT.
 
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TheDawg-Pound

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GloryDawg said:
I thought I heard a parent whose kid is in MRA that got in trouble for using AI for a paper. I believe he said there is a software they use to check to see if it is AI generated. Not sure.
Click to expand...
I remember them telling us this 20 years ago. I questioned it then but didn't take the chance. Likely a scare tactic. I'm sure there is software to detect it but not prove it. Back then we were told they use whatever software and it was just a percentage that would raise flags. I think it just compared to other papers. So basically you could just rewrite a paper and pray it was, for example, 85% different in wording.
A friend in high school copied one and did get caught as he just used a paper off the internet. It was word for word so easy to prove what he did.
 
P

Podgy

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DerHntr said:
I don’t think faculty will be able to stop cheating as AI increases in functionality. If you don’t see the student doing the work, you have to assume they are using AI at some point. How much they use it is probably a better question than if they use it.
Click to expand...
True
dorndawg said:
Are you not surprised it happened at Alcorn because it's an HBCU? Or is there something unique to Alcorn or that class? Merely curious.
Click to expand...
I was at a party with a couple of LSU football players who graduated last year and they both told me they couldn't have done it without Chatgpt. Both were white, btw.
 
grinningmule

grinningmule

Heisman
Jul 15, 2021
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Willow Grove Dawg said:
Fraternity test files were somewhat useful. I assume the sororities had them also.
I was shocked when 18 year old freshman me from small town northeast Mississippi learned in the fall of 1984 that lazy-*** members of the faculty utilized the same exact tests semester after semester after semester.
Click to expand...
I got a copy of "practice" test provided to the football team one semester at State. It was word for word identical to the final exam.
 
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champdawg.sixpack

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I remember Dr Carskaden busted me cheating. He told me to neat him in his office the next day. Gave me the test again and I made a 78. He said “ even if you cheat, you still learn the material” then he failed me! Respected the 17 out of that guy
 
Wesson Bulldog

Wesson Bulldog

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I use it to write radio ads, emails to prospects, analyze used vehicle sales in SW Mississippi, adjustments to buying plans and so on. We have signed on with Podium AI to answer leads.
 
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Herbert Nenninger

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Feb 9, 2019
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I was a freshman in 2001 when there was a big cheating scandal on the freshman math final. A TA had apparently leaked out the test and about half the class had it (not me).
I asked a guy after the test how he thought he did. He said point blank “I made a 94.” I asked how he knew. He said “ I had the test”.
 
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