"There is a perception that you can cheat as long as you don't get caught. If you use artificial intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT, cheating is too easy. As a joke, we call it the 'intermediate ninja exam.'" (a university student in Seoul)
Cheating that uses AI has been occurring one after another on college campuses recently. It is seen as an effect of the rise in remote classes and the spread of AI programs represented by ChatGPT. Universities are switching to in-person exams or adopting proctoring programs, but cheating techniques are developing even faster.
Already, online platforms such as YouTube offer easy access to information on AI cheating techniques, such as embedding ChatGPT in a scientific calculator or using angles that are out of a camera's view.
On the 12th, students we met on campuses said cheating has become more common. A (21), who attends Korea University, said, "During remote exams, it's now a familiar scene to gather in a study room and solve the problems together," adding, "The reason we register for classes with friends from the start is also to take the exam through a kind of 'collective intelligence (collaboration).'"
Cheating that uses ChatGPT is also frequent. Park (21), a Kyunghee University student, said, "During a biology major exam last semester, a student was searching with AI under the desk, and at one point ChatGPT's voice rang out across the classroom."
Korea University decided to invalidate the midterm exam results for a general education course in the second semester this year. It was a remote lecture with about 1,400 students enrolled, and cheating was detected, including exchanging answers through a Kakao open chat room.
On the 15th of last month, group cheating was also reported during the midterm exam for the course "Natural Language Processing (NLP) and ChatGPT" at Yonsei University. About 190 students are suspected of cheating, roughly one-third of the 600 students enrolled. During a general education midterm exam at the College of Natural Sciences at Seoul National University, some students cheated using AI, and a retest was scheduled.
One cause cited for the rise in cheating is the increase in large online lectures. The COVID-19 crisis was a turning point. According to University Alimi, a university information disclosure site, as of the second quarter of this year there were 6,543 large lectures nationwide with more than 101 students. That is about three times more than the roughly 2,300 in the second quarter of 2019, before COVID-19.
As cheating continues, universities are responding. Representative measures include requiring in-person exams even for online classes, or checking ChatGPT's answers in advance when creating exam questions to compare them.
Some schools are also using proctoring programs to prevent cheating. Kookmin University introduced the "Monito" system. During an online exam, students must show their upper body from the front with a computer camera and simultaneously show their profile and desk with a smartphone camera. If they violate the conditions, the exam screen freezes immediately, and opening another internet window or launching a messenger also halts the exam.
However, it is said to be realistically difficult to prevent cheating in all exams. On YouTube and elsewhere, multiple "tricks" are shared, such as how to install ChatGPT on a calculator for exams that require calculators.
Experts note that, given changing circumstances, a fundamental overhaul of assessment methods is also necessary. Lee Sang-yeop, a professor in the Department of Convergence Talent at Konkuk University, said, "It has been three years since AI became commercialized, and we should have anticipated these side effects in remote exams," adding, "There is a need to move away from conventional rote-memorization testing methods."