It was called a ‘cheat bot’. Now, this uni is paying for students to use it

The University of NSW has signed an Australian-first deal with ChatGPT to roll out a special version of the technology on campus, as universities increasingly embrace AI and acknowledge bans are no longer viable despite fears of a “new wave” of cheating.

The deal with ChatGPT would allow students, academics, and staff to use the tool securely, ensuring any information shared with the chatbot remained private and was not used to train AI models.

UNSW students Matthew Kuk and Gemma Ahearne have found benefits in using AI to enhance their study. Credit: Rhett Wyman

It comes after the University of Sydney overhauled its cheating policy to allow the use of AI in all assessments not held in exam-like conditions, in a sign institutions were conceding they could not control students’ use of the rapidly evolving technology.

UNSW’s deal with ChatGPT – a chatbot widely used to answer questions, generate ideas and write content – will start with a pilot across about 500 staff and students with the view of rolling it out more widely.

It is the first Australian university to introduce ChatGPT Edu – a tool specifically built for higher education – joining other institutions including Arizona State, Oxford and Columbia.

UNSW has paid the US company behind the chatbot, OpenAI, to deploy the tool, but would not reveal how much.

Third-year UNSW law and commerce student Matthew Kuk welcomed the move, saying it could make the technology more accessible by eliminating the need for students to pay for the premium version, ChatGPT4.

He regularly uses it to summarise papers he doesn’t have time to read in full and to help understand difficult ideas.

UNSW student Gemma Ahearne.Credit: Rhett Wyman

“It has freed up so much more time in my studies now, so I’m able to spend more time on concepts that I would have just skipped over,” he said.

Kuk said when ChatGPT was first rolled out, its use was stigmatised, and it was labelled by students a “cheat bot”.

“In my experience, it’s quite the contrary,” he said.

“It’s almost impossible to cheat well with ChatGPT. That’s because you’re probably going to fail if you use ChatGPT as your bible because it can’t critically think.

“It’s only really good at explaining concepts and it’s really, really bad with numbers.”

ChatGPT’s emergence about two years ago has upended universities’ cheating policies and caused widespread concern about a new and undetectable wave of cheating on campus.

UNSW revealed it had seen an increase in cheating using AI tools such as ChatGPT, with 166 serious cases referred for investigation in 2023.

But experts warned this would just be the tip of the iceberg because the available technology used to detect AI plagiarism only picked up the most unsophisticated cheaters.

Students have also raised concerns that tools used by universities to detect AI cheating are rife with false positives and caused unnecessary stress.

Unlike Sydney University, UNSW does not have a blanket rule on AI. Instead, teachers determine whether students can use AI in assessments on a subject-by-subject basis.

UNSW Business School senior deputy dean Paul Andon said there were vast uses for the tool for both staff and students, including creating bespoke “AI tutors”, and it would help develop students into “AI natives”.

Andon said the university had evolved its policies to reflect the realities of AI, conceding students could not be effectively stopped from accessing AI in non-supervised settings.

“I actually think in many ways [AI access is] a good thing. It helps them in terms of their learning, it’s not something to shy away from,” he said, adding they also needed to be assessed in secure settings without access to AI.

UNSW design student Gemma Ahearne said she started using AI widely this year and describes it as her “personal assistant”, helping her with brainstorming ideas, giving personalised feedback and summarising academic articles.

“When we were initially told, ‘no you’re not allowed to use it’, it scared me away, but now I understand it a lot more,” she said.

“The world is infused with AI. If you’re not using it you’re going to fall behind.”

But she said students needed to actively reflect on their reliance and consider if they were starting with their own ideas or going straight to ChatGPT.

“When you go into a job interview or exam, for example, you’re going to have to think for yourself,” Ahearne said.

The higher education watchdog said institutions imposing strict bans on the use of generative AI did not constitute an effective long-term approach to managing integrity risks, and universities need to consider how to redesign teaching and assessments.

UNSW vice chancellor Attila Brungs said the collaboration would be used to enhance research, teaching and the student experience.

“From engineering to health, business and science, AI is revolutionising research and education by making learning more personalised, accessible, and impactful,” he said.

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