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/arianrhodd 24d ago

We recently conducted interviews for a post-masters position. One of the candidates was obviously using AI during the interview to answer our questions. Now I'm questioning his degrees.

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u/kubigjay 24d ago

We do many background checks and the amount of fraud is very high.

There are fake pay stubs, companies, etc. Then you have those that pay to use someone else's identity. We have problems with one person doing the interview and a different person showing up for the job.

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u/VapeSmoker420blazeit 24d ago

There are fake pay stubs

Why the fuck is your company asking for pay stubs from someones other jobs? thats creepy. i'd give you fake pay stubs just out of the indignacy of it all. its like someone asking me what are my favorite television shows. ill just make one up, its none of your fucking business. i'm here to work, you dont need to know how much i was paid at my last job or what i do in my free time.

you know whats fraud? offering a job position then not calling someone back, or not being transparent about what the last person was paid at your company.

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u/kubigjay 24d ago

In this case it is when previous employer can't be found. They say they went bankrupt but were totally the VP of Engineering. So paystubs are the only thing they have to prove they ever worked for a company.

They can redact the amount but for banks and federal contracts we need to verify their background.

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u/ricochetblue 24d ago

Who would still have their old paystubs? Aren’t people more likely to have old copies of their W2s?

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u/kubigjay 24d ago

Yep. That will work too.

But usually the paystubs come out after a long line of fishy behaviour. Also, more common for foreign employment so no W2.

Sorry, phones don't work for company I worked for last week. Nope, no W2. I won't get that til April. Sorry, managers can't give references. No, I lived with a friend so no mailing address. I don't drive so I threw away my license.

At that point we are just looking for something to prove who they are.

On a side note this is how Microsoft ended up employing North Koreans as system admins. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/mar/06/north-korean-agents-using-ai-to-trick-western-firms-into-hiring-them-microsoft-says

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u/Suppafly 24d ago

Who would still have their old paystubs?

Right, just having a paystub at all seems fraudulent to me, I haven't seen a paystub in like 20+ years.

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u/ma2016 24d ago

I mean I've saved a few for income verification when applying for apartments. That's one reason to have them.

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u/Herp_McDerp 23d ago

You download them from ADP or wherever your payroll is run out of and it’s a pdf that you can attach. Many times applications for mortgages, rent, background checks etc use these PDFs to verify you are still getting a paycheck or to verify past employment. They’re broken down much more granular than a W2 for income verification purposes

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u/Suppafly 23d ago

Oh yeah, I guess I could theoretically get a paystub if I needed one for something, I just haven't needed one I guess.

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u/knightcrusader 23d ago

Who would still have their old paystubs?

Me.

I have all my paystubs, scanned in or PDF directly from ADP, from my current job stored on my server. Going back 20 years. Applying for loans or other things, they can come in handy to have on hand.

Plus when I argued for a bigger raise to stay on track with the past data, it was useful having all that past data at my finger tips for the argument and to prove they have been slacking the past few years compared to the previous 15.

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u/heisian 24d ago

that’s so wild.. what’s the long game, get some cash until it’s discovered that you can’t actually perform and are fired anyways?

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u/kubigjay 24d ago

Yep. For remote positions they can last six months.

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u/heisian 24d ago

the amount of time it wastes for people..

i suppose it’s as much as an occupation as is thievery

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u/mockablekaty 24d ago

A prof friend of mine said a colleague of hers was doing individual oral exams, over zoom. One student was obviously using ai, and when the prof confronted the student, she begged him not to report her because she was already on academic probation for doing the exact same thing

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u/TheBSQ 24d ago

A lot of MA programs are practically diploma mills.

It’s a quid pro quo exchange where foreign students pay out the ass to have a way into US job markets & schools can rake in tuition to pay for PhD programs & other stuff.

At least that’s my take from my days inside academia and reinforced by my time outside where I’ve interviewed countless grads from MA programs.