With the tremendous progress in artificial intelligence techniques, this field quickly turned from a supporting tool for education into a two -edged weapon. While artificial intelligence is employed to help students research, learn and stimulate thinking, in return, worrying practices, most notably the use of these advanced techniques in cheating inside the exam halls.
Cheating is no longer limited to traditional means such as small papers or secret signs, but rather it depends on more advanced tools, such as wireless headphones, glasses equipped with cameras, and artificial intelligence applications capable of reading questions and generating answers in seconds. Indeed, some applications allow photographing the question with a smartphone and analyzing its content immediately through tools such as “Chatgpt” or “Deepseek” and others, which makes the fraud detection more difficult than ever.
The experience of the British University of Reading
In a remarkable experience, researchers from the British University of Reding conducted a practical test on the ability of artificial intelligence to pass the exams without discovering. The team established 33 fake student identities, and through which they provided answers in a psychology exam, written entirely using “Chatgpt-4” without any human intervention. These answers were sent to the correctors within the ordinary system, without informing them of their artificial nature.
The results were shocking: 94% of the answers were not discovered as automatically generated, but rather obtained higher degrees than the real students’ answers. These results have sparked widespread controversy, and called on the university to reconsider the evaluation methods, focus on critical skills and practical assessments as means to reduce the fraud based on artificial intelligence.
A threat to the essence of education
Anxiety not only stems from the threat of academic integrity, but rather the real danger to the essence of the educational process. A student who depends on artificial intelligence in fraud deprives himself of developing his skills, which threatens to graduate generations that carry certificates without real efficiency. Worse than that, the frustration of this reality for diligent students, who see their cheating colleagues, are achieving better results in non -fair ways. These are catastrophic results, there is no doubt about it.
Artificial intelligence: a tool for creativity, not deception
Instead of resisting artificial intelligence, educational studies suggest its integration in the educational process morally and consciously, by encouraging students to use it in research, analysis and formulation of ideas, within clear controls. The problem is not in the technique itself, but how to use it. Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool that can contribute to the development of the student’s performance, but on the condition that it remains under the control and understanding of man, not turning into an alternative to think and answer it unconsciously.
Oral exams: a smart solution in the face of smart fraud
Oral exams are a promising option in facing the challenges of contemporary fraud, especially in specialized courses and universities. It enables the professor to assess the real understanding of the student, his ability to analyze and instantly think, and express his ideas in his own language, away from the intervention of external tools. It is also difficult to cheat or rely on ineffective preparation.
Suggested solutions to fight fraud
In addition to the usual technical solutions, such as diversifying exam models, monitoring intensification, and confiscation of smart devices, other more effective measures can be adopted, including:
– Enhancing the moral awareness of students through extensive awareness campaigns confirming that “whoever cheats is not from us”, as stated in the noble hadith.
Imposing deterrent penalties, such as writing down the observation of fraud in the student’s testimony when proven, as happened in some French universities this year, a step that may be painful, but effective.
– Allocating a percentage of evaluation to oral exams, especially in specializations that do not include large numbers of students. This percentage may be in the range of 30% of the final degree of the same course, which encourages students to prepare serious, and easily reveals who relied on cheating in the written part.
One last word
The challenge is great, but it is not impossible. With the rapid perception of the nature of this transformation and the reformulation of evaluation systems, educational institutions can maintain the integrity of education, and ensure that artificial intelligence is a commanded slave, not a controlled master.
* Department of Mathematics – University of Bahrain
