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Inside the university AI cheating crisis

More than half of students are now using generative AI, casting a shadow over campuses as tutors and students turn on each other and hardworking learners are caught in the flak. Will Coldwell reports on a broken system

“I had nothing left to give, but I had to submit a completed piece of work.” When her tutor pulled up a report on their screen from Turnitin, showing an entire section had been flagged as having been written by AI, there was nothing Emma could think to do but confess. “I received a first for that year,” says Emma, “but it felt tainted and undeserved.” The whole experience shook her – her degree, and future had hung in the balance – but she believes that universities could be more aware of the pressures that students are under, and better equip them to navigate these unfamiliar tools. One conveyed frustration that her university didn’t seem to be taking academic misconduct seriously any more; she had received a “whispered warning” that she was no longer to refer cases where AI was suspected to the central disciplinary board.

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