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
32.8k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

4.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.5k

u/BTMarquis Jul 27 '26

This might sound crazy, but they could also have them use a pen and paper to take tests.

144

u/dirty_cuban Jul 27 '26

I mean sure but if bank employees are stealing money by slipping bills into their pockets, the answer isn’t to mandate clothing without pockets. The answer is to fire the thieves.

Mandating pen and paper doesn’t change the fact that you have academically dishonest students who surely will cheat in other ways.

106

u/Mutex70 Jul 27 '26

Ever seen how diamond mines are run? Uniforms without pockets.

The problem is that online tests make it extremely easy to cheat and difficult to catch cheaters. Pen and paper helps with this.

Yes, they should also expel students caught cheating, but they need to catch them first.

1

u/Reaxonab1e Jul 27 '26

Properly invigilated remote tests are possible and they are successfully done. Many students fail in them because they're hard to cheat in.

8

u/talldata Jul 27 '26

Those remote tests are never properly invigilated, you have to first install literal malware on your machine, have to stare at the screen constantly (can only stare into empty space) then have an area totally clear of anything, which is neigh impossible in a single room apartment, and if someone knocks on your door or a pet walks behind you, they will automatically fill your exam for "breaking the rules". The invigilators are there actively to screw you over, not to actually supervise.

6

u/good_morning_magpie Jul 27 '26

Yep, I went back for my masters during Covid in my mid 30s and had the issue with my two large dogs. Either they’d walk into frame and flag the computer to have a proctor pop in and scold me, or they’d start barking at something and again, a stern talking to by someone several thousand miles away that’s apparently never had a dog.

Oh, and I had to buy the cheapest piece of crap laptop for the exams too, because all my actual personal machines run Linux and apparently they just can’t comprehend anything other than Windows or iOS exists. (VMs don’t work). So stupid.

1

u/coldblade2000 Jul 27 '26

Or just have a testing center. The computers are already locked down, they're not yours so no privacy concerns, and you can put cameras pretty much everywhere. Check items coming into the room and do random checks.

1

u/faetpls Jul 27 '26

Remote tests at the students house with their technology cannot be trusted.