Story
Professor's invisible prompt trap catches 32/35 students cheating with AI
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Overview
A professor at Alcorn State University used a hidden white font in an assignment prompt to instruct AI to generate irrelevant responses. This method successfully identified 32 students who attempted to cheat on their midterm exam.
Summary from techspot.com.
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Based on 5 sampled comments from this thread. Analyzed 2026-07-28.
- Praise: The fact that AI can generate text that students pass off as their own shows just how advanced these models have become, highlighting their potential in education.
- Praise: This incident underscores the need for innovation in teaching methods, potentially pushing educators to rethink their approaches in light of AI capabilities.
- Concern: Students are outsourcing their cognitive functions to AI, which raises serious concerns about their ability to think critically and engage with the material.
- Concern: The prevalence of cheating with AI suggests a grim future for education, where students might prioritize short-term gains over genuine understanding.
- Concern: Many commenters doubt the authenticity of the professor's claims, pointing to a possible bias in reporting on student cheating incidents.