Even in an Artificial Intelligence programme, students are not supposed to rely constantly on tools such as ChatGPT. A bachelor’s student at VU Amsterdam was given a mark of 0.0 for an assignment because she had used AI while working on it.
AI use is often difficult to detect and even harder to prove. But you do need to erase your traces carefully, and this AI student had not done so. Her answers contained sentences such as “thought for 4 seconds” and “thought for 7 seconds”, indicators used by the chatbot to show how long it took to generate answers.
Previously committed fraud
This made it very easy for the examination board to recognise the fraud. In addition to the failing grade, the student was banned from taking exams for a month. She had also committed fraud once before. The student disagreed with the decision and took the case to court.
The student admitted that she had used AI, but only “for translation and improving the phrasing of her answers”, which she argued should not count as fraud. She also considered the penalty too severe, as being barred from exams would mean she could not complete her academic year.
However, the judge did not accept her argument. The assignment explicitly stated that no form of AI use was permitted, meaning the failing grade was justified. Moreover, during the hearing it became clear that she would still be able to graduate that same year by using a resit and swapping one course. The student did obtain her diploma, but lost the court case.
HOP, Naomi Bergshoeff
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