Cheaters: "F*CK SCHOOL, JOIN THE Ai REVOLUTION!"
Plus, "systemic cheating" by firefighters and EMTs in Indiana. Plus, educators sign on to Course Hero's cringe-worthy "summit" again.
Issue 205
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Here Come the AI Cheats
Some of us said from the start that AI text generators were massive cheating engines. Not only cheat engines, but at least cheat engines. And now that ChatGPT has officially partnered up with cheating stalwart Chegg (see Issue 203), the cat - as they say - is out the bag.
And while it’s true that AI has been used to power cheating for some time - see Photomath (see Issue 194) and QuillBot - we’re at the dawn of an entirely new and potent species of AI-driven cheating. Some companies are already advertising AI services to bypass or trick the already AI-powered AI detectors. Others are openly hawking AI cheating.
This one, spotted and sent in by an eagle-eyed reader, is a good example.
Their headline is:
F*CK SCHOOL, JOIN THE Ai REVOLUTION!
The * is theirs.
The tool looks like it reads a computer screen in real time and uses AI to answer all questions immediately, while the student does nothing. Cheaters don’t even have to type in the questions anymore.
They advertise that the cheat works on LMS platforms such as Canvas and Blackboard. Nice.
It goes on to say - and this is a quote:
After downloading the tool one signed up all you need to do is start your assignment. From their our tool will get you all the answers you need.
No, really.
I’d totally trust these guys with my academic future. But that does not mean their hack doesn’t make cheating easier. For a price, of course. They want five bucks a month.
The point is that all of us are in for a tidal wave of these quack-job AI-powered cheat bots intentionally designed to seduce students into cheating. Buckle up.
“Systemic Cheating” on Exams at Indiana Fire Department
Local news in Muncie, Indiana reports on what it calls “systemic cheating” among firefighters and emergency medical technicians on certification exams.
The news:
allegations that firefighters and EMTs were able to cheat on their certification exams after being provided actual test questions and answers prior to or during their tests.
Not shocking whatsoever.
Because we’ve seen this before. With firefighters. In Wales (see Issue 168). In South Carolina (see Issue 4). In D.C., (see Issue 124). Still, it’s kind of stunning because - firefighters and emergency responders.
In Muncie, the news says several investigations are underway. The Indiana State EMS Director, Kraig Kinney said:
“When we hear about possible cheating, we occasionally get an accusation of one or two persons, but rarely do we hear that an entire system or department might be involved.”
A different state agency said of the firefighter exams:
Those exams test proficiency in specific fire service specialties, and they allow firefighters to get additional certifications that can result in promotions and pay raises.
There’s also this:
For the EMT tests, they said cheating rarely takes place during the actual exams because they take place at off-site locations with independent test monitors. Instead, the cheating takes place before and after the tests by immediately interviewing test takers about what they remember and then compiling those actual test questions into study guides, according to the people who spoke with [the TV station].
“Those students, as soon as they get back from taking their exams, are confronted and asked to remember any questions they had. They developed a question bank of nearly 500 questions for the EMT and Advanced EMT classes. So as soon as our new hires come in, they’re able to just memorize those questions and go in and get their certifications,” one of the staff members said.
Another state official said:
“The people who do that can get their license pulled and lose their license, but on a bigger scale, it also erodes confidence in what we’re doing,” [he] said. “The integrity of any test is so important for the public trust, and the public has to have confidence that the person who’s showing up at their door has obtained their credentials the right way.”
I feel the same way about college degrees. Systemic cheating undermines public trust and confidence in college. Sure, it’s different. Firefighters are life and death. And when firefighters and EMTs cheat, there are investigations, likely consequences. At colleges, not so much.
It’s also a good reminder that you cannot - cannot - recycle test questions. Even from a test bank. Once a question is used, it’s compromised. Not even on-site proctoring will protect test questions. But if you’re not proctoring an exam, you double-especially cannot recycle test questions.
Course Hero Hoodwinks Faculty Into Promoting Cheating. Again.
One of the most reliable things in the universe is how desperate cheating companies are to look like legitimate, reputable education providers. Some, I am sure, even convince themselves that selling answers to test questions or writing essays for cash is some new form of teaching that other people just don’t understand yet.
It’s sad, honestly.
Even sadder though is when teachers or education-related organizations believe the spin and share their names, photos, titles, institutions, and personal integrity with cheating profiteers. Some are unaware, though that’s inexcusable. Others are paid, I am sure. Some just don’t care.
With that, it’s time once again for Course Hero’s nauseating “Education Summit,” featuring education leaders who really, really should know better than to stand with Learneo - that’s Course Hero’s new name (see Issue 173) - or otherwise known as Cheating, Inc. These summits are marketing exercises in which people talk about anything but Course Hero’s core business of obliterating academic integrity, selling answers on demand, and commercializing the intellectual work of others without permission or compensation.
So we are clear, Course Hero has and sells millions of course materials from nearly any and every professor in the world. They also sell answers on demand, in minutes (see Issue 92 or Issue 97). They own the AI-powered “paraphrasing” company QuillBot. They refuse to cooperate with academic integrity inquiries, famously telling professors to sue them if they want information (see Issue 106). And there’s so much more.
Yet every year, they somehow find educators to stand on a virtual stage with them, vouching for the company’s standing in polite company.
And every year I ask where the Program Chairs and Deans are on this. I know it’s dicey to ask a professor not to speak somewhere, academic freedom and free speech and all that. And that’s fair. But I do think that representing a school, sharing its name and reputation with a red letter cheating provider, is worth a conversation.
I guarantee that the academic integrity policies at each and every one of these schools bar using Course Hero or QuillBot on academic work. Meanwhile, the implied endorsements by these professors and schools must be confusing to the students who use Course Hero and face integrity sanctions, as well as for the Deans who are called on to enforce those policies.
And yet, here we are. Again - with smiling faces from pristine universities perched under the Course Hero logo. For a review of the embarrassment of past Course Hero summits, see Issue 99 or Issue 121.
Last year’s List of Shame is in Issue 143.
This year, already announced speakers with Cheating, Inc. include:
Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Teachers College, Columbia University
Stephen M. Kosslyn, Foundry College
Stephanie Speicher, Weber State University
Shanina Sanders Johnson, Spelman College
Michael G. Strawser, University of Central Florida
In promotional materials on the site, Dr. Reilly White of University of New Mexico described it as “a world-class event.”
More will, I am sure, be added as the carnival date of June 29-30 approaches. I’ll keep you updated.