Loyola has seen a significant increase in cheating and plagiarism cases involving AI, particularly through the use of ChatGPT and similar platforms.
Although the academic school year is not finished yet, the Honor Council has found that so far for the 2024-25 academic year, 64% of honor code violation cases they received involved AI.
This has been about a 24% increase from the 2023-24 academic year, during which 52% of cases they received had to do with AI. Looking back even further, during the 2022-23 academic year, 27% of cases they received had to do with AI.
In addition to the percentage increases, a poll conducted by The Greyhound out of 127 responses, revealed that 75% of students are aware of AI cheating instances at Loyola to some capacity.
However, the rise in AI usage is not unique to Loyola. Students at other universities and even high schools are turning to ChatGPT for academic purposes.
According to the Wall Street Journal, OpenAI, the company that owns ChatGPT, said around 400 million people use ChatGPT every week, with students being the most common user.
Administrative Moderator of the Loyola Honor Council, Mark Lee, works to educate and sanction students who have committed honor code violations. Now more than ever, Lee tries to teach students about the consequences of improperly using AI.
Lee is aware that students’ appeals to using AI might be due to the convenience it provides to students. AI questions can be answered instantaneously and personalized effortlessly. Lee admits that this could drive students to feel more inclined to use it to complete assignments.
“It might make some students feel like the research process is easier, because maybe they’ll just type in the question and get the exact answer…it might give them ideas that they didn’t have before,” Lee said.
Sophia Graney, ‘26, an English major and honor council member said although she understands that AI can be a tool, she is not always fond of it.
“I’m not the biggest fan of AI in the classroom, I must admit,” Graney said.
Graney said that as an English major, she is accustomed to writing from scratch. So, when students decide to use AI, she finds herself frustrated.
“I do think it becomes disappointing if a student is using AI to avoid writing a whole essay and then cheats and has to face the consequences,” Graney said.
Instead of turning to AI, Graney encourages classmates to use the resources Loyola provides them to assist in writing or completing assignments. Additionally, she acknowledges that the lines can get blurred from assignment to assignment in terms of professors allowing the use of AI.
“What I will say is that I think it should be clearer to students what the AI regulations are beyond just inclusion in the syllabus. Having professors assert the use of AI for tests or projects, especially take home tests, on the assignment outlines could be helpful,” Graney said.
Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Michael Puma, is aware of the rising cases of cheating through AI. He understands that the solution to this problem is nuanced.
“A blanket policy might not be the best approach, especially if it means we can’t prepare students to go out into the workforce and actually do their jobs if AI is going to be part of their position,” Puma said.
“I think it’s going to be contingent on faculty and others on campus to think about what they hope to achieve through their assignments and their learning outcomes and assessments, and really figure out ways to create higher level thinking kind of learning assessments,” Puma said.
Puma also explained that Loyola is currently hiring for the position of Assistant Vice President for Faculty Development. He said that part of this position will be to help faculty navigate conversations surrounding AI in the classroom.
Professor and AI user, Gregory Hoplamazian, uses AI in both his classes and for personal use. Hoplamazian is aware of the benefits and drawbacks of using AI, and feels that coverstations around AI in the classroom need to be looked at from another angle.
“As professors, including myself, we can do a little more to really talk to students about what are their motivations for learning or why are they taking a class in the first place or why should they learn something,” Hoplamazian said.
“If we can get students to think about the personal benefits of them learning a topic, that can do a fair amount to push people away from the appeals of plagiarism. Because ultimately, you’re just robbing yourself of learning,” Hoplamazian said.
Like many other professionals, Hoplamazian understands the multifaceted nature of using AI. He explained Loyola’s AI policy will most likely continue to vary from professor to professor.
“There’s a lot of discussion and thoughts and opinions about it from students to professors to industry and in positive and negative ways. And I don’t think there’s any one way to view it,” Hoplamazian said.
With integrations into Google, Email, social media, and student tools like Grammarly, AI is expanding more each day and seems to be here to stay.
For the future of Loyola, Lee and the Honor Council are hopeful that students will uphold the honor code despite the temptations AI might cause. Lee appreciates the positives AI has brought to the campus, but hopes students and faculty can continue to navigate how to use the tool.
“We are all adjusting to how to integrate AI in our lives.”