Cheating Becomes More Sophisticated as AI Tools Gain Popularity Among New York City Students
As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to rise among New York City students, educators are struggling to keep pace. In particular, teachers have reported a significant spike in cheating, with some even using sophisticated tools to disguise their work. The problem is not new, but AI has made it more widespread and challenging to detect.
According to Brooklyn history teacher Michael Dowd, he scans for tell-tale signs of AI when evaluating students' assignments, such as em-dashes, semicolons, and words like "tapestry" or "nuanced." He believes that kids are using software to cheat, often disguising their work with comical results. For example, students have submitted papers that refer to the Cuban Missile Crisis as the Cuban Rocket Emergency, or President Bush as President Shrub.
While some educators acknowledge that AI is not always used for cheating, many believe that its widespread use has created a culture of shortcuts and outright dishonesty. The New York City Department of Education's response has been slow, with Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos citing the need to establish clear guidelines around AI use while tighter regulations are still being developed.
Critics argue that the lack of strong policies has led to a flourishing of cheating and puts students' learning at risk. Some have even called for a ban on AI use in most kindergarten through eighth-grade classrooms. The American Federation of Teachers, which represents the city's teachers union, has launched educator trainings in partnership with tech companies, but some worry that this is just another way to integrate AI into schools.
Students themselves acknowledge the use of AI as a study aid, but many believe that those who cheat will "throw in some errors" to make their papers more believable. Social studies teacher Travis Malekpour has noticed an increase in students using AI-generated vocabulary and grammar, which he believes is a red flag for potential cheating.
As Dowd notes, cheating is not new, but the ease of access to sophisticated AI tools has transformed the way educators teach and assess student work. To combat this, many teachers are shifting their approach, assigning more project-based coursework or using software like Grammarly to detect AI-generated content. However, with AI continuing to evolve rapidly, it remains unclear whether these efforts will be enough to keep pace with the changing landscape of education in New York City.
As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to rise among New York City students, educators are struggling to keep pace. In particular, teachers have reported a significant spike in cheating, with some even using sophisticated tools to disguise their work. The problem is not new, but AI has made it more widespread and challenging to detect.
According to Brooklyn history teacher Michael Dowd, he scans for tell-tale signs of AI when evaluating students' assignments, such as em-dashes, semicolons, and words like "tapestry" or "nuanced." He believes that kids are using software to cheat, often disguising their work with comical results. For example, students have submitted papers that refer to the Cuban Missile Crisis as the Cuban Rocket Emergency, or President Bush as President Shrub.
While some educators acknowledge that AI is not always used for cheating, many believe that its widespread use has created a culture of shortcuts and outright dishonesty. The New York City Department of Education's response has been slow, with Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos citing the need to establish clear guidelines around AI use while tighter regulations are still being developed.
Critics argue that the lack of strong policies has led to a flourishing of cheating and puts students' learning at risk. Some have even called for a ban on AI use in most kindergarten through eighth-grade classrooms. The American Federation of Teachers, which represents the city's teachers union, has launched educator trainings in partnership with tech companies, but some worry that this is just another way to integrate AI into schools.
Students themselves acknowledge the use of AI as a study aid, but many believe that those who cheat will "throw in some errors" to make their papers more believable. Social studies teacher Travis Malekpour has noticed an increase in students using AI-generated vocabulary and grammar, which he believes is a red flag for potential cheating.
As Dowd notes, cheating is not new, but the ease of access to sophisticated AI tools has transformed the way educators teach and assess student work. To combat this, many teachers are shifting their approach, assigning more project-based coursework or using software like Grammarly to detect AI-generated content. However, with AI continuing to evolve rapidly, it remains unclear whether these efforts will be enough to keep pace with the changing landscape of education in New York City.
I totally get why teachers are at their wit's end here 
. I mean, who hasn't struggled with keeping up with technology trends? But honestly, it feels like we're playing a game of catch-up with AI tools and the kids are getting smarter about how to use them 
. It's not just about cheating either, it's about the fact that these kids are growing up in a world where information is literally at their fingertips 
. They expect to be able to look something up on Google and know the answer, and if they can't get that from AI tools then what's the point? 
It feels like we need to have a conversation with our kids about responsibility and accountability instead of just trying to ban AI or create more rules 
. We need to teach them how to use these tools for good, not just to cheat 
all these students are just throwing some words together and calling it a tapestry or something lmao 
but honestly it's hard enough when students are relying on ai for everything else in life - shouldn't they be learning how to think critically instead of just using software to get by? idk what's next, is everyone gonna start using robots as their personal tutors? 
. It's like they think they're above the game or something. Newsflash: if you can't do the work, don't try to trick us into thinking you did 
. The fact that some teachers are using software to detect AI-generated content is a good start, but we need stricter rules in place ASAP 
. I'm all for innovation, but not at the expense of fairness and integrity 
. Let's keep it real, kids! 
. The fact that they're using AI tools to generate papers and then "throwing in errors" just to make it believable is like, totally unfair 
. And don't even get me started on the teachers who are too slow to adapt to this new landscape 
. We can't have students using software that's basically cheating code just because it's convenient 
. And yeah, maybe some educators are too caught up in the tech trend to notice what's really going on 
.
, but from where I'm sitting, it just seems like a fancy way of avoiding hard work 
. Can't we focus on actually teaching students something useful instead of giving them a magic formula to get good grades? 
and yeah im so done with these students who just copy paste their way thru life 
teachers need to step up their game too not just rely on some lame AI detection software 
and btw whats wrong with a little nuance in language 
. It's like they're saying "Hey, I used AI to do this work, but here's a bunch of big words to make it look legit" 
its not fair to them or to the rest of the class that got to learn in a real way