According to BBC News, a student who typically receives low grades utilized ChatGPT to obtain a top score on a college essay.
The student, who goes by the pseudonym “Tom” to protect his identity, conducted an experiment during the school’s January assessment period. He submitted two essays, one 2,500-word essay that he wrote entirely on his own, and another with the help of ChatGPT, an AI chatbot.
Tom usually receives a grade of 2.1, which he received on the essay he wrote himself. However, he was pleasantly surprised to receive the highest score of his college career on the essay he submitted with the assistance of ChatGPT.
He clarified that the essay was not generated word-for-word by the AI, but rather he utilized the chatbot to access more quality information. Tom plans to use this strategy with ChatGPT in the future.
Another Cardiff University student referred to as “John,” shared with BBC News that he was happy to have had the opportunity to use ChatGPT in his final year of school.
He expressed concerns about potential AI plagiarism detection affecting the legitimacy of his degree in the future. John stated that he was confident that his use of AI in his work was undetectable.
Cardiff University has acknowledged being aware of plagiarism claims involving ChatGPT on its campus, but the language model is not currently banned in UK schools. According to BBC News, a Freedom of Information assessment conducted at the university in January revealed that there were 14,443 visits to the ChatGPT site on-campus Wi-Fi networks, compared to zero hits in December 2022.
In the US, some schools moved swiftly to block access to ChatGPT on their campuses after its launch in November 2022, but there are still ways for students to circumvent the ban, such as by using a VPN, accessing the chatbot off-campus, or using a smartphone or tablet.
Instances of ChatGPT being used for plagiarism have been reported, and students caught doing so have been disciplined accordingly.
Simple plagiarism detection software has been successful in catching some students, although one processor noted that as the language model is updated, plagiarism may become more difficult to detect.
