UNSW investigates claim teacher used ChatGPT to mark uni student’s assignments
A leading Sydney university is investigating after a student’s post claiming their assignment had been marked with ChatGPT went viral online.
The University of New South Wales is investigating allegations that one of its teaching staff is using artificial intelligence to grade assessment tasks, prompting students to lash out at the “devaluation” of their degrees.
UNSW’s Business School is facing backlash online after a postgraduate student in the Master of Applied Finance course took to social media claiming their teacher had used the AI chatbot ChatGPT to mark their work.
“So glad that AI marks my assignments for my postgrad (at) UNSW where I pay $5k every 6 weeks for the privilege,” the student wrote on X, posting a picture of their computer screen.
The image showed the ‘instructor feedback’ written on software platform TurnItIn, with the comment reading “ChatGPT said: … the submission demonstrates a strong understanding of the Australian payments and fraud-prevention landscape” and scoring the task 88 out of 100.
A UNSW spokeswoman confirmed the university is “aware of the incident referred to and will manage (it) in accordance with our internal policies and procedures”.
“The University has developed a framework that aims to support and guide ethical, responsible and innovative use of AI,” she said.
“We believe students and staff should not be overly dependent on technology, and independent thought and knowledge are and will always be essential.”
Guidelines for teaching staff at UNSW state that “as a rule, markers must not use AI platforms which have not been approved … (like ChatGPT) for marking (or) feedback,” but teachers are explicitly allowed to use Microsoft Copilot for that purpose.
Last month, UNSW also became the first major Australian university to sign a licensing deal with ChatGPT developer OpenAI, granting all staff free access to the chatbot after a 10-month pilot program within the Business School.
The decision has sparked an outcry from some students, who have been pressuring the university to dial back on artificial intelligence amid environmental and ethical concerns.
Fine Arts and Education student Robin, who did not wish to use their surname, has accrued almost 7500 signatures on their petition to cancel a new elective subject called “Generative AI for Artists”.
UNSW’s OpenAI deal was “extremely disappointing” Robin said, and though their own tutors have not used AI to mark their assignments - to the best of their knowledge - peers in other courses have been subjected to AI-generated feedback.
“It’s been very frustrating for them,” Robin said.
“They would like feedback that is specific and relevant, so that they can improve … and AI, in its current state, doesn’t have the capacity to provide those same reasoned judgments.
“It significantly decreases the quality of our education, which we’re paying a lot of money for.”
Will Thorpe, an arts student at the University of Sydney who has publicly pushed back against AI in higher education, said for teaching staff to outsourcing marking to a chatbot “is shocking” and “insulting to students and to fellow academic staff”.
“The reason given was that tutors do not get paid for all the time they spend marking, but that is no reason to break the social contract between staff and students that each will give the other a sincere effort,” Mr Thorpe said.
“The point of going to an expensive university with experts in their fields is to learn from them, and a part of that learning comes from assignment feedback.”
UNSW’s most recent academic integrity report found almost one in three substantiated instances of academic misconduct last year involved AI misuse.
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Originally published as UNSW investigates claim teacher used ChatGPT to mark uni student’s assignments
