AI hijacks homework: Schools scramble to protect academic integrity

The classic book report is fading from high school and college classrooms as take-home tests and essays fall out of favor.

Educators nationwide report that student use of artificial intelligence has become so widespread that assigning work outside the classroom is almost equivalent to asking students to cheat.

“The cheating is off the charts. It’s the worst I’ve seen in my entire career,” said Casey Cuny, who has taught English for 23 years.

Teachers no longer question whether students will outsource schoolwork to AI chatbots. “Anything you send home, you have to assume is being AI’ed.”

Schools are now grappling with how to adapt as traditional teaching and assessment tools lose effectiveness.

With AI technology advancing rapidly, it is changing how students learn, how teachers teach, and what counts as academic dishonesty.

“We have to ask ourselves, what is cheating?” said Cuny, California’s Teacher of the Year in 2024. “Because I think the lines are getting blurred.”

At Valencia High School in Southern California, most student writing now happens in class. Cuny monitors screens using software that can lock down devices or block certain sites.

He also teaches students to use AI as a study aid. “To get kids learning with AI instead of cheating with AI,” he said.

In rural Oregon, Kelly Gibson has similarly moved to in-class writing. She also uses verbal assessments, asking students to explain their understanding of reading assignments.

“I used to give a writing prompt and say, ‘In two weeks I want a five-paragraph essay,’” Gibson said. “These days, I can’t do that. That’s almost begging teenagers to cheat.”

Assignments once considered standard, like analyzing social class in “The Great Gatsby,” now often begin with students asking ChatGPT for brainstorming help.

The AI quickly provides essay ideas, examples, and quotes, even offering to draft paragraphs or outlines.

Some students use AI responsibly. Lily Brown, a psychology sophomore at an East Coast liberal arts school, uses ChatGPT to outline essays and make challenging readings more understandable.

“Sometimes I feel bad using ChatGPT to summarize reading, because I wonder, is this cheating? Is helping me to form outlines cheating?” she said.

AI policies are inconsistent, with teachers setting rules individually. “Whether you can use AI or not depends on each classroom. That can get confusing,” said Valencia 11th grader Jolie Lahey.

Some instructors allow tools like Grammarly, while others ban them due to their ability to rewrite sentences.

Initially, many schools banned AI when ChatGPT debuted in late 2022.

Since then, attitudes have shifted, emphasizing AI literacy and clear guidance on appropriate use. Over the summer, universities issued detailed instructions to faculty.

At UC Berkeley, instructors were told to state course expectations regarding AI on syllabi, with options to require, limit, or ban its use.

“In the absence of such a statement, students may be more likely to use these technologies inappropriately,” the guidance said.

Carnegie Mellon University has seen an increase in AI-related academic integrity issues.

Rebekah Fitzsimmons, chair of the AI faculty advising committee, notes students often unknowingly cross lines.

She cites a case where an English language learner used AI translation, which altered his work, triggering detection software.

Faculty are responding by replacing take-home assignments. Emily DeJeu, teaching at CMU’s business school, now administers in-class quizzes on laptops with lockdown browsers.

“To expect an 18-year-old to exercise great discipline is unreasonable; that’s why it’s up to instructors to put up guardrails,” she said.

Across the country, teachers are reshaping writing assignments, assessments, and AI to teach students to leverage technology responsibly while preserving academic integrity.