AI School Daze: Who’s Cheating?

A 2025 College Board survey found that 84 percent of high school students use AI in homework, prompting schools to grapple with cheating as AI agents can outsource entire semesters of online coursework. Denmark now requires upper-level students to declare AI use and defend work orally, while U.S. states face federal opposition to AI regulation. An MIT study linked heavy AI use to lower brain activity and reduced problem-solving skills.

As a new academic year begins, schools are still trying to determine whether AI is a fantastic learning tool or a diabolical shortcut to cheating. Coming under increasing scrutiny are online degree programs from universities and colleges. As reported by the New York Times, AI agents make it possible for students to outsource a semester of work using simple commands to create what is essentially an imitation of themselves. AI agents can watch videos, write papers, chat with classmates and even take tests. The situation is so dire that questions are now arising as to whether online degree programs have any value. The controversy comes as many campuses embrace online courses as both a revenue source and as a way to reach non-traditional students like low-income working parents. There is no doubt teachers now face a tidal wave of AI use by students. A 2025 survey by the College Board indicated that 84 percent of high school students were using AI in their homework assignments. Anecdotal testimony strongly suggests that teachers see the evidence of AI use in discrepancies between at-home and in-class work. Effective policing has proved elusive as AI detector software has proved unreliable. Meanwhile, social media is full of videos instructing students on how to make AI-generated homework seem less so. “Humanizers” rewrite AI-generated text to make it sound less robotic and formulaic. Autotypers slowly drip words into documents to make it appear that the material was typed at a human’s pace, a counter to attempts by teachers to check a document’s history for signs of AI use. Believable typos and fixes are produced by dedicated software. In some instances, the companies promoting AI as a tool for responsible brainstorming and outlining also give a nod and wink to cheating and plagiarizing. For example, the New York Times points toward Grammarly, a well-known app once known as a spell checker but which now offers the ability to write from scratch, humanize text and replace words that might set off AI detectors. The dilemma facing educators is that AI is likely to be a tool students will use in the workplace once they graduate so an outright ban is counterproductive. The concern is that AI use by students may undermine learning. Studies show that students who rely on AI can experience cognitive off-loading wherein new skills fail to develop while existing ones can degrade. Cognitive offloading can become cognitive surrender. A recent MIT study found that heavy AI users exhibited lower brain activity and had fewer problem-solving skills. AI’s role in education is of international concern. For example, the AI cheating issue is getting an emergency response in Denmark. Upper-level Danish students must now declare where AI was used in a written assignment and are required to defend their work orally in class. The goal is “to ensure that AI does not undermine students’ skills, academic abilities, and, not least, to think for themselves,” said the country’s education minister. Meanwhile, in the U.S., many states are pushing legislation for more AI literacy among students while also promoting the development of AI guardrails and transparency for both students and teachers. State efforts are hampered by Trump Administration opposition to AI regulation at the state level and the effective disappearance of a U.S. Department of Education that might otherwise have been more involved regarding AI use in education on a national level. In the meantime, many teachers are left to police student AI use as best they can. For many, the solution is old school: exams administered in class with paper and pen, to be turned in within a designated time frame… What’s old is new again.