College professors don't know how to catch students cheating with AI
Adobe Stock
"It felt like a disease, where you see a couple cases and then all of a sudden there's an outbreak. That's what it felt like."
As generative AI technologies reshape the academic landscape, University of Arizona faculty are at the forefront of addressing emerging ethical and pedagogical questions. A recent Mashable article spotlights how professors across the nation—including UArizona’s own Patty Machelor and Irene McKisson—are confronting a growing wave of AI-assisted cheating in higher education.
Machelor, who teaches advanced journalism courses in the Honors College, shared a case where a student submitted clearly AI-generated work. Despite the absence of definitive tools to prove AI use, Machelor emphasized a student-centered approach, offering guidance and extensions while reinforcing journalistic standards. McKisson, who teaches social media and editing courses, described a rapid uptick in AI misuse in her online class. Her solution? Incorporating AI-resistant assessments and leveraging AI herself to redesign prompts that minimize misuse.
Their experiences echo a broader national concern: while AI tools like ChatGPT are reshaping how students complete assignments, faculty and institutions often lack clear policies or reliable detection methods. Research shows AI detectors can produce false positives, particularly among non-native English speakers, raising equity and efficacy concerns.