The New York Times reports that professors Karle Flanagan and Wade Fagen-Ulmschneider, known as the Data Science Duo, recently confronted a group of students in their introductory data science course who had been accused of cheating and falsifying their attendance records. The professors grew suspicious when they received dozens of nearly identical apology emails from the accused students, which they soon discovered had been generated using artificial intelligence.
The incident occurred on October 17, when the professors read aloud the less-than-genuine apologies in a large lecture hall, projecting the emails on a screen for all to see. The students’ laughter in the background of the video footage indicated that they instantly recognized that AI was used to generate the emails.
The course, which has approximately 1,200 students divided into two sections, uses an application called the Data Science Clicker to track student engagement and attendance. Students are required to log in on their devices and answer multiple-choice questions within a set time frame when prompted by a QR code. Attendance and participation account for four percent of the final grade in the class, which is primarily taken by first-year students.
In early October, the professors noticed that dozens of absent students were still answering the questions. Upon investigating the issue by checking the number of times students refreshed the site, their devices’ IP addresses, and server logs, they concluded that the students had been tipped off about the questions and when to respond.
The professors sent emails to more than 100 students, informing them that their ruse had been discovered. While the university’s student code covers cheating and plagiarism, there are no specific rules addressing the use of AI. As a result, the students will not face disciplinary action, as their behavior did not violate the policies outlined in the course syllabus.