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Secondary education

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Original poster

DD cheating with essays with AI

58 replies

Meandmyfeelings · 27/11/2023 15:38

I have realised that my year 9 daughter is using AI to write her essays. I’m sure this must be a fairly common problem but how do I stop this? She is a very wilful child who we battle with homework with anyway. She needs a laptop for work. How are schools coping with this? She said the teachers are not noticing. Ultimately it’s her that will come unstuck at exam times. Any advice please

OP posts:
Jigglycat · 27/11/2023 15:54

Maybe explain to her that, ultimately, the immediate grades she gets for her homework are not so important, but what is importnat is to learn to write good essays to do well in GCSE/ Alevel.. and that takes time.
To be fair it's not an easy skill to learn and I sat down for hours with my daughter ,over and over again, to discuss her essay plans , the choices of quotes etc etc good luck!

Phineyj · 27/11/2023 15:59

Why does she need a laptop? Will she be typing exams next year? If not, I'd suggest research on laptop and then handwriting the answer. The sheer effort of handwriting means more ends up in their own words.

Also, her teachers likely know she is doing this. ChatGPT work doesn't sound like students' own words - this is normally easily revealed by asking them a question about words or expressions in it, or by the American spelling.

diamondpony80 · 27/11/2023 16:25

I'd say it's very unlikely her teachers can't see the difference between AI and a Year 9 unless she's using amazing prompts. It's very easy to recognize AI content.

Sandysandwich · 27/11/2023 16:29

You could try explaining that she wont be able to do it in the exams, and without actually practicing she will fail.
Her teachers will work out she is a cheat at some point- or you could say that you will tell them.

But practically you can block websites on your wifi router so they appear to not exist if she looks for them.

Oblomov23 · 27/11/2023 16:31

Surely the teachers do know. You need to talk to her about morals, principles, ethics.

TeenDivided · 27/11/2023 16:34

Can you set up internet controls to block ChatGPT?

LBFseBrom · 27/11/2023 16:36

Your daughter may well remember what she copies if she scrutinises it all thoroughly. It's amazing what we can store in our memory.

Phineyj · 27/11/2023 18:29

She might remember, but the AI probably isn't answering the question in the expected style. All that kind of AI is really good for at the moment is reading comprehension.

I mean, I managed to trick it the other day using apple and Apple in the same question. It could tell me about fruit, or about tech. Not both.

Not only is it cheating, but it actually takes longer to do a decent job than to write it yourself.

minipie · 28/11/2023 00:25

Do they have any sort of end of term assessment- something done in school that will show her the effect of doing this?

WandaWonder · 28/11/2023 00:38

She must be very good at it as schools using scanning software to catch kids out

GreigeO · 28/11/2023 00:44

schools using scanning software to catch kids out

that’s not true

curchy · 28/11/2023 06:47

Can you talk to her about the ways she can use it to help her, rather than just cracking down? It might make her more receptive. Ds, fir example, has been using it to help with GCSE mock revision, by getting it to write questions to test him on his subjects. Try to talk to her about being smart in how she can use the AI but still develop her own skills.

IfAIwasfedMN · 28/11/2023 06:53

I hope she is at least learning proof reading skills as a result. Most "essays" written by AI are frankly very obvious and full of rubbish.

MrsHamlet · 28/11/2023 07:07

GreigeO · 28/11/2023 00:44

schools using scanning software to catch kids out

that’s not true

We do, but not routinely in year 9.

If I suspected someone was doing this, I would check though.

lljkk · 28/11/2023 07:15

Am another one who reckons there's an opportunity here for her to learn to proofread well. What kind of essays, OP? I don't think DS's school uses essays any more for homework. Haven't done for years. Is this a private school?

SnowLeopardPyjamas · 28/11/2023 07:27

GreigeO · 28/11/2023 00:44

schools using scanning software to catch kids out

that’s not true

Scans are done in my DDs school too. And anecdotally I've a couple of teacher friends who say it's a growing problem and they paste suspicious essays through checkers to see % probability of it being AI generated.

drwitch · 28/11/2023 07:51

I think schools and unis are going to have to work with it (like calculators) rather than against it -teach children how to use the right prompts (which you can only do if you understand) and edit the waffle out (training them to judge what is waffle and what is informative ) is also useful and can't be done unless they understand
So use of AI saves time and aids understanding

girlsyearapart · 28/11/2023 07:59

My y9 dd got a detention for this this week . Of course schools notice

MustBeNapTime · 28/11/2023 08:16

I'll be honest, I would have an absolute fit if I found out my daughter was doing this. I would sit her down and we would be having a serious discussion about how immoral, lazy and plain wrong it is to do this. How utterly disappointed I was that she thought that it was acceptable and how I had brought her up better than to be a lying cheat. Then I would make her explain why she thought taking such a riduclous shortcut was a good idea. I would then pick holes in every argument and I would not stop until she understood what she was doing was wrong and why. Then I would tell her teacher and ask them to check every essay she had done and she would be redoing them sat at the dining room table.

Overkill? Almost certainly, I'm usually a fairly laid back parent who guides rather than steers, but I absolutely abhor liars and cheats. This may seem like a minor "just a lazy teenager being a lazy teenager" thing but it's the thin edge of a wedge that could well see them fail their exams.

Quickredfox · 28/11/2023 08:20

For anyone who is relying on a scanner to detect this, please try generating something in ChatGTP yourself and then paste that into the scanner. The detection rate is not great.

Notellinganyone · 28/11/2023 08:23

The school should pick up on this. It’s becoming a real issue but, as an English teacher, I can spot an AI essay easily. No child writes like that. You could also tell the school your concerns so they are aware. Our school has moved to a lot more timed essays now to avoid this issue.

GreigeO · 28/11/2023 08:33

Detection software is notoriously bad at detecting AI generated essays.

IfAIwasfedMN · 28/11/2023 08:47

It is quite funny that schools are relying on "detection software" to detect AI essays - they are really very obvious if you, as a human, read them. Why would a teacher not bother reading an essay and rely on a computer to spot another computer's work?

MrsHamlet · 28/11/2023 11:25

Quickredfox · 28/11/2023 08:20

For anyone who is relying on a scanner to detect this, please try generating something in ChatGTP yourself and then paste that into the scanner. The detection rate is not great.

Turnitin now has an AI detector.

MrsHamlet · 28/11/2023 11:26

IfAIwasfedMN · 28/11/2023 08:47

It is quite funny that schools are relying on "detection software" to detect AI essays - they are really very obvious if you, as a human, read them. Why would a teacher not bother reading an essay and rely on a computer to spot another computer's work?

We do not rely on turnitin to do the job. However, it's a useful back up when the student and parent "swear down" that they didn't cheat.