The University of South Africa has slammed a news article about an alleged Artificial Intelligence (AI) “cheating scandal” as sensationalism aimed at tarnishing the image of the institution.
This comes after News24 reported on a new wave of cheating through AI and ChatGPT, flagged by the university after scores of students were said to have cheated using the new technology.
The publication reported that the exam scripts of hundreds of Unisa students had been flagged as "disciplinary cases" after it was discovered that artificial intelligence (AI) tools, which were banned for the assessment, were allegedly used.
According to the publication, Professor Tersia Botha from the Department of Business, had revealed that dishonesty reports were provided by the academic department as well as the College of of Economic Management Services to the university's Student Disciplinary Unit.
"It is disheartening to assess so many exam scripts that have to be flagged as DC cases due to so many similarities," Botha is quoted as saying.
However, in a statement on Friday, Unisa slammed the publication for characterising this new challenge as a cheating scandal saying the headline was misleading and story lacked facts.
"The university takes exception to the misleading headline which is not backed up by any credible facts even in the body of the article. We can only conclude that this is a deliberate fabrication intended to give some justification to its falsified headline.
"That said, we would like to set the record straight and clarify that the situation is not a "scandal" as portrayed. Unisa has a balanced and reasonable approach to the use of AI tools like ChatGPT by students. However, in line with the principles in the Policy on Academic Integrity, the responsible and ethical use of AI tools is promoted. Recognising both the potential benefits and risks of AI in education, Unisa is working on measures to ensure that students are guided accordingly against misuse or unethical use of AI," Unisa said
According to the institution, the measures included, finalising the guidelines and Policy on Artificial Intelligence, and introducing a compulsory course on Academic integrity in 2025.
The university which turned 150 years old this year, indicated that students will also be equipped with the necessary skills to uphold principles of academic integrity, including honesty, fairness, and accountability, as well as the responsible and ethical usage of Gen AI tools.
"Unisa is still finalising the draft of the soon to be approved comprehensive university position statement on the use of AI in teaching, learning, research and engaged scholarship.
"Furthermore, the university continues to take proactive measures and continues to use proctoring and AI tools such as the Invigilator App, Moodle, and IRIS to secure academic integrity. The university also promotes the usage of Turnitin, a web-based text matching software that has an AI content detector as one of its measures to protect academic integrity. The University remains satisfied on the efficacy of its measures in detecting acts of misconduct during its assessments.“
Saturday Star