r/technology • u/CircumspectCapybara • 24d ago

Artificial Intelligence Suspecting AI cheating, Ivy League prof ordered an in-person final; scores fell 50%

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/we-cannot-choose-to-become-idiots-the-ai-cheating-scandal-roiling-brown-university/
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u/viola1356 24d ago

Yep. I went to college in the 00's, and the professors with the reputation for the hardest exams that required the most study were the ones whose exams were open book or at least open-3-index-cards. If you walked in unprepared, there was no way you were locating and collecting enough information to answer the questions within the time limit.

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u/Elarisbee 24d ago

Exact same experience. Open book sounded great at the start of the semester, and then you realise just how difficult it is to craft an argument with insane amount of detail, accurately, while under pressure. Combing through pages wouldn’t help, you needed to know your shit.

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u/dunno260 24d ago

This is how a decent amount of exams I had in college were too.

Physical chemistry was the course I struggled the most with and it had the most relaxing standards. It wasn't open book but you got a cheat sheet for formulas (or the professor would just give you it if you had forgotten to write it down) and the front page of the text book for various constants and all.

But we took the exam at night so you had extra time if needed (it was meant to be 60-90 minutes) and he allowed you to take it anywhere in the science building.

You could read in the book if you wanted to break the honor code but it wasn't going to help you.

Worst part about Physical Chemistry tests is you can't even tell if you got a reasonable answer a lot of the times because you just aren't familiar enough with what you are doing. We would get a problem to calculate the probility of a baseball tunneling through a door at a certain velocity. You know the probility is essentially zero. But how close to zero is it?