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Jun 28 18:13 UTC

Professor denounces mass AI fraud on an exam at Brown University (english.elpais.com)

18 points|by geox||9 comments|Read full story on english.elpais.com

Comments (9)

9 shown
  1. 1. fhn||context
    the professor has all the power in the classroom. If you don't want cheating, define better conditions for the exam. You allowed a take-home exam which means students are able to use any and all resources.
  2. 2. hackermailman||context
    They're going to have change everything so use of an AI assistant doesn't matter because once they graduate they're just going to continue using it anyway.

    If it's a math for finance course then some kind of model building for the midterm and being marked on the quality of the model or something. If AI becomes so good that it always chooses the best fitting model and requires no numerical optimization then they will have to change the courses to be more like UChicago where it's primarily undergrad directed research but AI assisted.

  3. 3. hgoel||context
    The challenge I think is that students then struggle because they used AI throughout the semester and didn't actually learn. The proper response would be to be strict and fail students that don't perform to a satisfactory level, but this messes with the funding incentives.

    You can only lead a horse to water, you can't make it drink. Maybe a student's sincerity should play a larger role in the admission process, maybe with a sharp expense curve such that students judged to be more sincere have to pay less tuition. It is an inherently subjective evaluation though.

    Edit: I completely misread your comment. Asking students to build a model is not a finance class anymore.

  4. 4. hackermailman||context
    It's a welfare economics theory course that requires many frameworks with measures where you are maximizing some graphical representation. It also requires assumptions to work and can be visualized in a model where you can see what happens when one of the assumptions doesn't hold.

    For example the old and new Berkeley model to study rent control effect on market prices

  5. 5. orlp||context
    This is a dumb take. It's like not teaching kids 1 + 1 because a calculator can do it for them.
  6. 6. danny_codes||context
    Why teach kids how to read, they can just take a picture of whatever text they want and have AI say it aloud.
  7. 7. danny_codes||context
    Damn that's crazy. Guess the take home test is dead now.

    I never understood this behavior from undergrads though, you're paying so much for an education and then you just skip the education part? Why bother?

  8. 8. thereitgoes456||context
    Because it's an important aid to getting to a high-paying job in the US, not just a means to learn.

    One need only look at the resume filtering process, a once manual bias that has now been codified into algorithmic bias with AI. A degree from a good school boosts your chances immensely, and other facets such as coursework don't matter much.

    If you have ever seen someone filter applicant resumes, you will understand instantly. There are too many and the allure is irresistible.

  9. 9. stackskipton||context
    >you're paying so much for an education and then you just skip the education part? Why bother?

    Because you are viewing the motivation of college wrong for most people. For most people, the purpose of college is to get piece of paper that will open up higher salary opportunities. Ergo, they are just doing whatever required to get said piece of paper with least amount of effort.

    Until degrees, in particular, degrees from well-regarded universities, this behavior will continue.