r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • Jul 27 '26

Society Professor's invisible prompt trap catches 32 students cheating on their midterm with AI

https://www.techspot.com/news/113243-professor-invisible-prompt-trap-catches-32-students-cheating.html
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90

u/ThePensiveE Jul 27 '26

I would be quite exasperated to be a professor today. We're raising a generation of little idiots.

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u/G0ldMarshallt0wn Jul 27 '26

The tragedy to me, as a professor, is that I know they AREN'T all idiots; this is learned behavior, learned within the school system itself, and it is definitely getting worse. A generational disaster in the making.

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u/Hiker-Redbeard Jul 27 '26

This is a good point. If you're trying to do it legit, but you're surrounded by 90% of your cohort that you can clearly see cheating and getting away with it and reaping the rewards (at least in the short term), it becomes hard to hold out forever. 

Especially if they're just getting a slap on the wrist when they do get caught cheating. We're failing them as a society by not holding them to a higher standard. 

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u/Historical_Camel_790 Jul 28 '26

And when they're getting perfect grades and you're getting left behind

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u/Sinath_973 Jul 28 '26

If you are a professor, i would like you to falsify a theory of mine, if you don't mind.

The professor in this posts example clearly has evidence of them cheating. Yet he doesnt let them fail the full exam. My theory is, that the colleges/universities need their quotas so much, that if you would fail too many students, the university would lose finances.

So it doesnt matter what students do, as long as enough of them get past the exams.

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u/G0ldMarshallt0wn Jul 28 '26

You're right to feel that the colleges are not punishing AI violations as rigorously as they probably should be, though it is a bit more complicated than there being sone sort of passing quota. There isn't, but the students themselves get very upset and can cause a lot of trouble in a lot of ways, and universities are lawsuit-averse to and past a fault, in part because they really are expensive to deal with on our razor thin budgets. We are definitely not encouraged to try and punish malfeasance excessively these days, and AI malfeasance is especially difficult to prove. 

That said, in this case? I'd have failed them all. And my dean would have backed me on that even though he surely wouldn't have liked it. 

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u/PsychoWarrior3 Jul 30 '26

I took 10-15 days to research an assignment of history once in one of my classes, using books etc everything, citing everything and wrote everything myself in word. Got 16/20 whereas my roommate who is dumb as bricks but used AI to generate his assignment in like 1-2hrs, without even updating much to make it look as if he wrote it, got 18/20. Where is the incentive to be honest? I never worked hard on any assignment like that afterwards because theres no point

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u/cpt_ppppp Jul 27 '26

Probably even more exasperating as an honest student. You can do the work to a level that would have once been top of the class and then come bottom because everybody else is scoring 98%

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u/thekarlhendrickstrio Jul 27 '26

thanks for thinking of people like me. it can be pretty frustrating. but, i just try to stay in my own lane. students who cheat in such a wonton manner have bigger problems than the stress that i face in trying to complete work ethically.

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u/Hawk_015 Jul 28 '26

I'm in a masters level online course for a highly specialized education qualification. We have to make discussion board posts weekly to discuss our readings, then respond to 2 colleagues. My peers work is so overwhelming clearly done by AI, and it is so fucking painful to try to write an articulate and meaningful response to this garbage.

Here is one of my peers posts as an example. This was one of 5 paragraphs she wrote that all had the exact same sentence length, cadence, and never really made a meaningful point. And barely (imo) answers our actual question which was to compare the article's leadership styles to how our boards actually operate, and how management encourages certain styles or builds off this work (we all work at different boards, course is run out of a university)

This approach aligns with several of Goleman's leadership styles, particularly the authoritative (visionary), affiliative, democratic, and coaching styles. Like Goleman, [my school board] recognizes that effective leaders communicate a clear vision, build strong relationships, encourage collaboration, and help others develop their skills and confidence. For example, principals are expected to work collaboratively with teachers, families, parishes, and community partners while promoting continuous professional learning and shared leadership. The board's emphasis on creating supportive, faith-centered learning environments also reflects Goleman's belief that emotionally intelligent leaders build trust and foster positive organizational cultures.

Like how do I even engage in a dialogue with this? "Great post Margaret. My board also recognizes that effective leaders build strong relationship, encourage collaboration and help others....beep boop."

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u/G0ldMarshallt0wn Jul 27 '26

LLMs do not usually do that well. 

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '26

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u/ThePensiveE Jul 27 '26

With AI you can grade handwritten work lazily as well so the professors who want to be lazy still can.

Doesn't mean all professors are lazy though.

You're right about the solution. All analog in person exams are the only way. Back to the before times.

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u/ataraxic89 Jul 27 '26

-every boomer about millennials

its amazing how pathetically lacking in self awareness my generation is

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u/Upper-Tip-1926 Jul 27 '26

It’s literally changed so fast though. 5 years ago when I was in grad school, students used grammarly to proofread essays. We’d get little suggestions like changing the subject and predicate around so a sentence makes more sense or changing sentence order. Everything was still the writers ideas. Everything had to be referenced and the writing process was streamlined. Now the process barely involves human interface.