Two professors at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign grew suspicious after receiving identical apology emails from dozens of students they had accused of academic dishonesty.
The students, undergraduates in an introductory data science course, had been confronted about cheating on attendance, reports The New York Times. The professors concluded that the identical mea culpas were written by artificial intelligence.
The professors, Karle Flanagan and Wade Fagen-Ulmschneider, revealed the incident in a large lecture hall on Oct. 17. They read the identical apologies aloud from a projector screen as a lesson in academic integrity, an event that later drew widespread attention on social media.
Professor Flanagan said she initially thought the first email, which began “Dear Professor Flanagan, I want to sincerely apologize,” was genuine. However, she then received a second, a third, and more identical emails, which made the apologies feel less sincere.
Absent yet answering
The professors initially identified the academic integrity issue after discovering that dozens of students who were absent from class were still answering questions on an engagement-tracking app. The app, known as the Data Science Clicker, requires students to answer questions prompted by a QR code to log attendance, which counts for four per cent of the final grade.
After reviewing server logs and IP addresses, the professors emailed more than 100 students telling them the ruse was up, which prompted the AI-generated apologies.
The university said the students would not be punished. Allison Copenbarger Vance, a deputy associate chancellor, stated that the students’ behaviour “didn’t violate the policies outlined in her syllabus, so no disciplinary action was warranted,” as the rules did not specifically cover the use of AI.
