Blind professor catches massive AI cheating scandal at Brown University, says it should be a wake-up call after scores drop from 100 to 48

Brown University professor Roberto Serrano has exposed a significant AI cheating scandal, prompting concerns about academic integrity in the age of artificial intelligence. Serrano, who has taught mathematical economics at the Ivy League institution for 34 years, allowed students to take their midterm exam at home on March 5, citing the lingering shock from a campus shooting.

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Some answers contained unusual passages that coincided with results obtained after running the questions through ChatGPT.

The decision had unforeseen consequences. Of the 86 students who took the exam remotely, an astonishing 40 scored a perfect 100, pushing the class average to 96. This was a dramatic increase from previous years, when averages typically ranged between 65 and 80, despite the current exam being more difficult.

Serrano noticed "unusual passages" in the answers that coincided with results from ChatGPT. He confronted his students, questioning their purpose at university if they refused to learn or work hard. "If you did this, if you just press a button to ask an AI agent to do this for you, you’re showing to be completely irrelevant," he told them. "So my question to you is, why are you here?"

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If you did this, if you just press a button to ask an AI agent to do this for you, you’re showing to be completely irrelevant. So my question to you is, why are you here? Why are you at a university if you refuse to learn, you refuse to work hard, if you refuse to put in the necessary effort to develop critical thinking?

The professor insisted that the final exam would be in-person. The impact was immediate: the class average plummeted to 48. Only 59 students showed up, with 19 failing. A total of 27 students dropped the course, including 22 who had previously scored 100 on their at-home midterm.

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If all you’re doing is just pressing a button to have this machine do the work for you, then you think you need a Brown degree for that?

Brown University acknowledged the situation, stating that Professor Serrano shared details with the academic code committee on July 8. A university spokesperson emphasized that "Brown treats every allegation of academic integrity with the utmost seriousness." Serrano described the incident as a "wake-up call" for educators globally, noting that AI has drastically lowered the cost of cheating. "Silence is the worst treatment for this problem," he stated.

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The problem with this technology is that the cost of cheating has basically gone down to zero. It's very easy for students to succumb to the temptation.