World's 'anti-cheating' expert teacher removed from newspaper pages over undeclared use of AI
A Sydney teacher's opinion on the use of technology in education has been retracted by a major Australian newspaper after it was discovered the text was written with artificial intelligence, according to The Guardian.
The article was signed by Western Sydney University Vice-Chancellor for Quality and Integrity Prof Cath Ellis and was published in the Sydney Morning Herald last month. In his opinion, the teacher urges students to avoid using technology to “take shortcuts.”
Prof. Cath Ellis is a renowned academic and world leader in the field of educational integrity.
The text was a response to an article by researcher Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who claimed that students can easily outsource their learning to AI and “are graded on who can write the best instructions.”
The problem of artificial intelligence is real, but students should continue their studies, Ellis argued. “Don't take shortcuts. Don't outsource your thinking, no matter how tempting it may be. If the system is as fragile as some claim, then genuine effort will not go unnoticed. It will stand out,” she wrote.
However, the expert's editorial was verified with the Pangram detection service, a program specialized in the identification of texts generated by artificial intelligence, which labeled it as having been produced by this technology. When asked by Guardian Australia, the university confirmed that Ellis had used artificial intelligence to draft the text.
The representatives of the institution explained that for the drafting, Prof. Ellis uploaded 40,000 words of his own original materials into the Copilot language model to synthesize his knowledge base.
The university spokesperson added that programs such as Pangram can detect the use of artificial intelligence, but cannot determine whether it was appropriate or inappropriate. He specified that the institution considers the use of AI in this case to be “appropriate”.
However, the article made no mention of the use of this technology for drafting.
The text, removed from the newspaper
As a result, the editor-in-chief of the Sydney Morning Herald, Jordan Baker, announced the removal of the text from the site, stating that the publication had not been informed by the author or the university about the use of the technology. “Obviously this is unacceptable and we are investigating further,” Baker said.
Parent company Nine's editorial policy allows journalists to use AI only for initial research and idea generation, but clearly states: “AI will not be used to write articles intended for publication.”
The regulation also states that AI-generated text must be visibly labeled, but use as an assistive tool does not require a declaration.
Incidents like this are becoming more common in the global media. Crikey has retracted several articles after it was discovered that one author had used AI to proofread the text. For its part, the New York Times cut off a freelance journalist who used AI on a review.
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