Brown Professor Alleges AI-Assisted Mass Cheating in Exam

Brown University economics professor Roberto Serrano alleges that 40 of 86 students in his ECON 1170 class cheated on a take-home midterm using ChatGPT, after scores averaged 96%. Following an in-person final, the average dropped to 48% and 19 students failed, prompting discussions about AI's impact on academic integrity.

For AI practitioners and educators, the Brown incident highlights how accessible generative models can undermine take-home assessments and push institutions toward supervised or redesigned evaluation strategies. According to reporting by Inside Higher Ed, Fortune, Ars Technica and other outlets, Brown economics professor Roberto Serrano gave a take-home midterm to his ECON 1170 class after a December campus shooting; the midterm produced an average score of 96 percent , with 40 of 86 students earning perfect or nearly perfect marks Inside Higher Ed, Fortune . Inside Higher Ed and Ars Technica reported that Serrano and his graders compared student answers with outputs from ChatGPT , finding similar wording and reasoning. After Serrano announced an in-person final, several students dropped the course, and reporting shows the final average fell to roughly 48 percent with 19 students failing Ars Technica, Inside Higher Ed . Multiple outlets characterized the case as a large-scale AI-assisted cheating incident in the Ivy League Fortune, Futurism .