US Students Use AI to Take Entire Online Courses for Them

According to a New York Times report, as AI agents become more common, some US students are now letting AI handle entire online courses. The AI can complete quizzes, watch lecture videos, write essays, and even join discussions pretending to be the student, while the student spends time on games or social media. This reveals that online education makes it harder to prevent cheating compared to in-person classes, where exams and verbal presentations can verify learning.

AI companies are doing little to stop this. Tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grammarly don't refuse to write full essays, nor do they block AI from logging into platforms like Canvas or Blackboard. Perplexity says requiring AI to identify itself on learning platforms would risk students' privacy and safety. Karen Costa, who has taught online for 20 years, asked, "Am I just interacting with a bot?" Carol Sewell from the California State University system said she got no guidance on discouraging AI use, only more training on how to use it. The system signed a multi-million-dollar deal with OpenAI last year.

In response, the University of Chicago Law School has banned electronic devices in classrooms, and Princeton University ended its century-old honor code after an AI cheating scandal.