Cheating
When AI Is Used to Cheat in School
When AI Is Used to Cheat in School
Written by Martin Ågren - May 28, 2026
AI tools can be used to cheat in school.
But they can also be used as a tool for learning, in a constructive way. It is important to see both the opportunities and the risks of AI so that we do not focus only on the negative.
Of course, students should follow the instructions they receive from their teachers regarding any AI use.
But schools also have a major responsibility to provide clear instructions regarding AI use so that students can easily understand what applies:
THE TEACHER'S responsibility:
Each teacher must ensure that students understand what applies.
THE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT'S responsibility:
But schools also need to centrally communicate clear guidelines for both students and employees. The more consistent and clear the guidelines are, the better.
It is important that we do not confuse scanning for plagiarism with scanning for AI generation. They are two different things:
This was already relevant before ChatGPT was launched. But sometimes the topic also comes up in the AI debate. Scanning for plagiarism can work well. However, it actually does not have much to do specifically with AI, since AI rarely generates direct plagiarism.
What does it mean to scan for AI generation:
There are services that can be used to scan a text, where the purpose is to detect whether the text has been generated by AI or not.
My advice to schools and teachers: Do NOT use this type of scanning. These types of services are NOT reliable. Sure, the tools may sometimes produce the correct result, but there is quite a high risk of false positives. And therefore, there is a risk that the school falsely accuses students of unauthorized AI use. That is a lack of legal certainty that is unreasonable.