Educators are becoming increasingly concerned about their students using advances in tech to “beat the system” in order to receive good grades without having actually earned them. At the forefront of their fears is ChatGPT, a type of AI software that's advanced enough to generate convincing prose that can then be turned in as an original essay or paper.

Recently, the NYC Department of Education banned the use of such software—but identifying a student's work as AI-generated is quickly becoming a real cat-and-mouse situation. The sophisticated software spits out “writing” that's difficult to detect as the product of AI, but a company called Turnitin claims they've developed the means to sniff out the counterfeit content.

Cheating and Copying: A College Tradition?

Students have likely been looking for ways to cut academic corners since the beginning of formalized education. Sometimes they do so because they're in over their head intellectually. Other occasions find overworked scholars scrambling to finish schoolwork on time; in a pinch, they resort to purchasing or plagiarizing an essay or other type of assignment and turning it in as their own original work.

Cheating is frowned upon and forbidden for several reasons, in addition to simply being unethical and a type of academic misconduct. Students who take these shortcuts are missing the point of a college education: the critical thinking skills, research skills, problem-solving abilities, perseverance, and self-discipline that are often even more important than the actual knowledge they gain on the way to receiving that diploma. Additionally, cheaters give themselves unfair advantages and end up hurting other students who do their own work—at least in the short term. In the long term, they're really doing themselves a disservice.

Is ChatGPT Impervious to Detection?

Professors and instructors who are asked about AI in general and ChatGPT in particular uniformly express one emotion: fear. They might be angry, sad, and frustrated to boot, but many are very scared at the possibilities presented by this ever-evolving technology. At the heart of that fear is the fact that ChatGPT creates pretty convincing content. What's more, it can be easily tailored to the assignment at hand—delivering on such variables as grade level, subject matter, length, and more.

Several apps designed to detect the use of AI in written content are being rolled out, including Turnitin and GPTZero, but even their designers express concern that their software won't be equal to the task. That's because artificial intelligence is constantly “learning” and adapting at an incredibly rapid pace. The programs that aim to identify it might not be able to keep pace, at least not completely. It will prove a challenge, tech experts predict, to update the anti-AI apps as continually and thoroughly as necessary for their success.

Accused of Using AI for Academic Success?

If one of your instructors has accused you of using software like ChatGPT—or even of cheating “the old fashioned way” by purchasing work from an essay mill, asking your roommate to write a paper for you, or recycling an assignment you previously completed for a different course—you will need help, whether or not you're guilty of the act.

For that help, turn to attorney Joseph D. Lento and the Education Law team at Lento Law Firm. They are experienced at negotiating with schools across the country to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion for everyone involved, and their assistance might mean the difference between continuing on to complete your degree successfully, and being suspended or even dismissed.

Start by describing your situation here. Or give them a call at 1-888-535-3686. Your academic career will thank you!