Brown University Prof Alleges Widespread Cheating With Help From AI in His Class

“I think the incident itself is terrible, but I think in some sense I’m more disappointed by the reaction of the university”

Posted by Mike LaChance Friday, July 3, 2026 at 09:00am 0 Comments

This is obviously going to be an issue throughout higher education going forward.

GoLocalProv reports:

“Massive Cheating” in Brown University Class, Alleges Professor – “Systemic Failure That Needs to Be Addressed”

A Brown University professor is alleging that widespread cheating by students in one of his classes took place this past semester – with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) – and is saying it is a “systemic failure that needs to be addressed from the top.”

Robert Serrano, who has been in the Economics Department at the Ivy League institution for 34 years, says that the grades for a midterm exam, which he allowed to be taken “at-home” – were significantly higher than in previous years.

He says a review by graders found that exam responses mirrored those of ones by ChatGPT – and when he addressed the class and said they could keep the midterm grade they received but had to take the final in-person, that nearly a third of the class dropped out.

Now, he is questioning Brown’s response to the matter.

“I think the incident itself is terrible, but I think in some sense I’m more disappointed by the reaction of the university,” said Serrano.

Exam and AI Cheating in Question

Serrano, who teaches Econ 1170, said that in this class this past spring, “there was a huge difference in the distribution of grades of the midterm exam this time and the midterm exams in previous editions of the course.”

“This is a very challenging course that attracts typically very strong students, and in the past, the average grade for the midterm ranged from 65 to 80,” said Serrano. “The average this time was 96.”

Serrano noted that this past semester, he saw a huge influx of students in his class.

“In past editions of the course, the enrollments were at most 30, as low as 8 one semester,” said Serrano. “This semester it jumped to 86.”