AI technology and contract cheating tactics used by students explained
Sneaking into lectures and lectures, infiltrating group chats, and sending emails impersonating professors; These are some of the increasingly desperate tactics that contract cheating companies are using to regain market share lost to productive AI.
Colleges across the country say contract cheating, in which students delegate assessments to another person, has been replaced by cheating through artificial intelligence. There has been a significant increase in the number of students caught abusing developing technology.
When artificial intelligence technologies emerged in 2023, most universities banned them. Institutions have gradually loosened restrictions, and many now allow the use of AI in some contexts but not others; A “two-lane” approach Led by the University of Sydney and also available at some other universities.
“There is still room for contract fraud at will. This means more money and may require a personal relationship with the person providing it.” [the material]”said Professor Phillip Dawson from Deakin University’s Assessment and Digital Learning Research Centre.
“There are still people outsourcing the entire degree. In face-to-face classes, you need a warm body in the room.”
Macquarie University’s head of complaints, appeals and misconduct, Kane Murdoch, said universities must adapt to the changing environment.
“There will be more cheating than ever before where universities do little to change the reality of their assessments rather than change the appearance of them. Learning will be less than ever,” he said.
A report from the University of NSW says the university has seen a 219 per cent increase in “unauthorised use” of generative AI in 2024 compared to the previous year. There was no such report in 2022.
Proven cases of contract fraud at UNSW have fallen from 232 in 2023 to 132 the next year.
The financial reports of Chegg, a study aid website that the higher education regulator alleges students are using to cheat on exams and assessments, reflect this.
After the pandemic high of $113.51 per share, shares in the company are worth 69 cents today.
The company laid off 45 percent of its staff late last year and sued Google, saying AI summaries on the Google homepage hurt website traffic.
“There is a market signal in the share price,” said Dawson.
“Chegg’s share price drops as institutions move from online to face-to-face learning, then drops again with the rise of artificial intelligence. Its peak is during the peak of the pandemic,” he said.
Murdoch puts it more clearly: “Chegg is dead.”
Chegg is in trouble elsewhere. The company is being sued by the Higher Education Quality and Standards Authority. violating federal anti-cheating laws. Court documents filed in September reveal that the university regulator alleged that Chegg US and its subsidiary Chegg India broke laws banning academic copy services through the company’s “Expert Q&A service.”
The regulator said five samples of Australian universities in fields as diverse as programming, water systems and quantum mechanics were uploaded to Chegg’s website and revealed that the company’s “experts” had posted responses within days.
“It was clear that the question was an assignment and Chegg US and/or Chegg India and each Expert either knew or should have known that this could be work that a student would have to undertake personally,” TEQSA says in Federal Court documents.
According to court documents, both Chegg USA and Chegg India refused to provide academic copying services. In a statement previously provided to this imprint, Chegg said TEQSA’s allegations were based on a handful of “selective and misleading examples” that did not represent its commitment to protecting academic integrity.
“The lawsuit brought by TEQSA is based on an outdated academic integrity policy formulated long before the rise of artificial intelligence and its profound impact on education and technology today,” a CHEGG spokesperson said.
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