Texas A&M Professor Uses ChatGPT to Fail Students for AI Cheating

A group of seniors at Texas A&M University who had already graduated were temporarily denied their diplomas after a professor wrongly used an AI bot to accuse them of cheating on their final assignments.

Dr. Jared Mumm, who teaches agricultural sciences and natural resources, said he used ChatGPT, an AI chatbot that can generate text based on user input, to test whether his students used the software to write their papers.

“I copy and paste your responses in this account and Chat GTP will tell me if the program generated the content,” Mumm wrote in an email to his class, misspelling Chat GPT. He said he gave zero grades to those whose papers were claimed by the bot.

However, ChatGPT was not designed for this purpose and falsely claimed to have written all the papers, regardless of their origin. There are other tools that can detect AI-generated content, such as Winston AI and Content at Scale.

The students had to prove their innocence by showing their timestamped Google Documents and other evidence. Mumm initially ignored their emails and commented in the school’s grading software system: “I don’t grade AI bullshit.”

Rolling Stone reported that Mumm later apologized to one student who was exonerated and that two other students admitted to using ChatGPT earlier in the semester.

Texas A&M confirmed they were investigating the incident and said no students failed the class or were barred from graduating as a result of this issue.

“The professor is working with the students to determine whether AI was used to write their assignments and, if so, at what level,” the university said in a statement.

ChatGPT is an AI project developed by OpenAI, a research organization backed by tech luminaries such as Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. The bot can produce realistic and sometimes misleading texts based on user input.

Reference：

• Professor Flunks All His Students After ChatGPT Falsely Claims It Wrote Their Papers | Rolling Stone | May, 17, 2023
• A Texas professor failed more than half of his class after ChatGPT falsely claimed it wrote their papers | Business Insider | May, 17, 2023
• Professor Failed More Than Half His Class After ChatGPT Falsely Claimed It Wrote Their Final Papers | Slashdot | May, 17, 2023