Trust in colleges decaying over AI cheating

Administrators and students clash over monitoring policies and false accusations.

- By JAWEED KALEEM

A cheating crisis is growing at American universities as AI rapidly becomes embedded in learning. Extreme and uneven classroom practices are in force to prevent deception, false accusations against students are increasing and the definition of what it means to cheat is shifting, professors, students and specialists in academic integrity say.

At UCLA, students in a recent sociology class said they were told in an email to “procure a mirror large enough to fully reflect your entire desk-area work space,” and turn on their laptop camera so the professor could watch them during an online test. In another course, students said they had to take their oral video exam with their arms crossed in front of them or behind their heads so they couldn't type into AI platforms.

A Los Angeles attorney who represents students under disciplinary proceedings at California colleges said AI accusations now make up roughly 35% of her firm’s education caseload and are increasing rapidly. She has seen multiple cases in which professors report more than half a class for AI violations.

Complicating it all: Defining cheating these days can be murky with rules about AI use varying widely as instructors strive to redesign the classroom experience. Some faculty allow students to cite AI sources in drafts. On the other end, the UC Berkeley law school last month instituted a ban on nearly all AI use.

Ambiguity and contradictions, higher education experts say, are at the heart of the conflict at many campuses where AI policy is left to individual instructors seeking to encourage its ethical use while preserving academic integrity — as the technology evolves faster than university rules.

“It’s a messy environment,” said Lee Rainie, who directs Elon University’s Imagining the Digital Future Center. The underlying issue is trust, he said.