Schools Pivot From AI Bans To AI Literacy

The era of the traditional book report and take-home essay may be over. Educators in high schools and colleges report that the use of artificial intelligence by students has become so widespread that assigning writing outside the classroom is now an open invitation to cheat.

The Challenge of Widespread AI Cheating

"The cheating is off the charts. It’s the worst I’ve seen in my entire career,” states Casey Cuny, an English teacher with 23 years of experience. The conversation among educators is no longer about if students will use AI chatbots for their work, but a given. "Anything you send home, you have to assume is being AI’ed.”

This shift forces a critical re-evaluation of educational practices. As AI technology rapidly advances, it’s not just transforming teaching and learning methods; it's also blurring the lines of what academic dishonesty even means. Cuny, a 2024 California Teacher of the Year recipient, puts it plainly: “We have to ask ourselves, what is cheating?”

In response, Cuny has moved most writing assignments into the classroom at Valencia High School. He uses software to monitor student screens and block certain sites. He is also actively integrating AI into his lessons, teaching students how to use it as a learning aid rather than a tool for cheating. Similarly, Oregon high school teacher Kelly Gibson has shifted to in-class writing and incorporates more verbal assessments. “I used to give a writing prompt and say, ‘In two weeks, I want a five-paragraph essay,’” Gibson notes. “These days, I can’t do that. That’s almost begging teenagers to cheat.”

Students Grapple with Blurry Lines

Students often turn to AI with good intentions, using it for research, editing, or to understand difficult texts. However, the temptation AI presents is unprecedented, and the boundary between acceptable help and cheating is often unclear.

Lily Brown, a college sophomore, uses ChatGPT to outline essays and summarize complex philosophical readings. “Sometimes I feel bad using ChatGPT to summarize reading, because I wonder, is this cheating? Is helping me form outlines cheating? If I write an essay in my own words and ask how to improve it, or when it starts to edit my essay, is that cheating?” she asks.

Class syllabi often contain vague prohibitions like “Don’t use AI to write essays and to form thoughts,” leaving a significant grey area. This ambiguity, coupled with the fear of being labeled a cheater, prevents many students from seeking clarification from their teachers. The rules can also vary dramatically from one classroom to another within the same school. Some teachers permit AI-powered tools like Grammarly, while others forbid them.

Valencia 11th grader Jolie Lahey learned valuable AI skills in Cuny's class, such as using ChatGPT for quizzing. But now, her teachers have strict “No AI” policies. “It’s such a helpful tool. And if we’re not allowed to use it that just doesn’t make sense,” Lahey says. “It feels outdated.”

Universities Implement New Guardrails

After ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, many schools reacted with outright bans. That view is changing. “AI literacy” is the new focus, emphasizing a balance between leveraging AI's strengths and managing its risks.

Over the summer, universities began drafting more detailed guidelines. The University of California, Berkeley, instructed all faculty to include a clear statement on their syllabus about course expectations for AI use, providing templates for courses that require, ban, or permit some AI.

Carnegie Mellon University has seen a significant increase in academic integrity violations related to AI, but often students are unaware they have broken the rules. Rebekah Fitzsimmons, who advises on AI policy, mentions a non-native English-speaking student who used an AI tool to translate his work, not realizing it also altered his language, which was then flagged by a detector. This makes enforcement complex, as AI use is difficult to prove, and faculty are hesitant to make unfair accusations.

In response, Carnegie Mellon has developed new guidelines for students and faculty, stating that a blanket AI ban “is not a viable policy” without changes to teaching and assessment. Many instructors are eliminating take-home exams, returning to in-class paper tests, or adopting “flipped classrooms” where homework is completed during class time. Emily DeJeu, a communication instructor at the university, has replaced homework writing assignments with in-class quizzes on a lockdown browser. “To expect an 18-year-old to exercise great discipline is unreasonable,” DeJeu says. “That’s why it’s up to instructors to put up guardrails.”