Students accuse NSW Education of using AI-generated image in exam

Year 12 students have claimed NSW Education used an artificially generated image in end-of-year exams.

Thousands of year 12 students have accused the NSW Education Standards Authority of using an apparently AI-generated image as part of their first HSC exam.

The “photograph”, which features a laptop sitting on a desk with a mug, phones and wires against a mountain backdrop, was used as part of the first HSC exam, which took place on Tuesday.

NSW Education is accused of using an AI-generated image in the HSC English exam. Picture: Supplied

About 60,000 students took part in the first exam in which they were required to compare an extract from Elizabeth’s Strout novel My Name is Lucy Barton with the image of the laptop on the desk that the students claim was artificially generated.

The prompt was worth five points out of a possible 40 marks, The Daily Telegraph reported.

While there are no rules that NESA or teachers from the Department of Education are restricted from using AI-generated content, students have been informed that “unapproved use of AI in the completion of assignments is a breach of academic integrity”.

A NESA spokesman confirmed the image was extracted from an online article written by Florian Schroeder, a Berlin-based AI enthusiast and co-founder of AI Rockstars, discussing the “power of the digital detox”.

The spokesman said “whether students thought the image to be AI-generated or not will not have any bearing on their results”.

Online, however, students hit out at NESA for using the unattributed image, with some labelling the move as “hypocritical” and “distracting”.

“I spent five minutes unable to focus on anything but the fact that it was clearly AI generated, I was so pissed off,” a student said.

“If you’re going to use this new technology because it’s easier and more suited, why can’t we?” another complained.

Others raised concerns over the lack of source attribution.

“Students who are visually impaired typically receive the image with a description. How would that work in a case like this wherein the image is nonsensical?” someone asked.