ChatGPT did not increase cheating in high schools, Stanford researchers find

(CNN) – When ChatGPT launched late last year, some high schools quickly developed strict policies to prohibit students from using the powerful Artificial Intelligence – known as AI – chatbot tool over fears of cheating on assignments. But now a new study from researchers at Stanford reveals the percentage of high school students who cheat remains statistically unchanged compared to previous years without ChatGPT. The university, which conducted an anonymous survey among students at 40 US high schools, found about 60% to 70% of students have engaged in cheating behavior in the last month, a number that is the same or even decreased slightly since the debut of ChatGPT, according to the researchers. In November 2022, ChatGPT – developed by OpenAI – went viral for generating convincing responses and essays in response to user prompts in seconds. While ChatGPT and similar AI tools have gained traction, the technology has raised some concerns over inaccuracies and its potential to perpetuate biases, spread misinformation and enable plagiarism. “While there are individual alarming cases in the news about AI being used for cheating, we are seeing little evidence that the needle has moved for high schoolers overall,” Victor Lee, Stanford’s faculty lead for...