UTRGV students have raised their concerns on social media regarding artificial intelligence detectors used by professors.
Integrated health sciences senior Alexia San Miguel said she has seen students express their frustrations about the use of AI detectors by professors.
San Miguel said the most concerning issue to her is students claiming to be falsely accused of using AI when the work is completed without it.
“The most concerning part about this is that there really isn’t, you know, like solidified evidence or valid evidence to showcase that the student was using AI in their essays,” San Miguel said.
The UTRGV Student Code of Conduct outlines expectations for academic dishonesty and the consequences for the violations.
Although AI usage is not specifically mentioned in the Student Code of Conduct, Vice President for University Marketing and Communications Patrick Gonzales told Vaquero Radio Wednesday via email that students and faculty are expected to follow existing university policies.
In the email, Gonzales stated, quote, “UTRGV does not yet have a standalone university-wide policy on the academic use of AI, and the university is currently in the process of guidance on this topic.”
Vaquero Radio requested an interview with the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities to learn if there is an increase of students being reported by faculty for AI usage this semester but as of the airing of this story, it had not responded to emails.
San Miguel said professors should do more than just rely on external or third-party AI detectors because of the lack of credibility they may have.
She said she encourages students to speak up when they face an AI-usage report.
“Email the professor, ‘Why was I given this grade?’ Can we set up a meeting to discuss this? Even state that they have documentation to prove that they didn’t use AI,” San Miguel said.
Political science lecturer Bryant Sculos said he developed his own policy where students check their own work.
“I have students submit their own work to the most reputable AI detector on the market, which is GPTZero and then they just upload their reports,” Sculos said.
Sculos said he spoke to students at the beginning of the semester to set expectations about AI use, which is not allowed on his assignments.
“Students basically consent to submitting their own work to the same AI detector, and I basically don’t grade work that doesn’t have that uploaded with it,” Sculos said.
Sculos added detectors are becoming less effective as AI technology improves, meaning the better the AI, the worse the detectors will be.
Sculos said the perfect solution would be for students not to use AI in the first place.
He said he encourages students to understand their rights and document their work for when accusations do happen.
“Documenting your work process, the process that you took is the best advice I would give,” Sculos said.
