--- title: "Professor Falsely Accuses Students of Cheating Because ChatGPT Told Him To" description: "A Texas professor flunked an entire class after using ChatGPT to see whether they... had used ChatGPT to write their finals." date: "2023-05-17" modified: "2023-05-17" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/professor-accuses-students-chatgpt" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "chatgpt" - "OpenAI" - "plagiarism" - "the digest" --- # Professor Falsely Accuses Students of Cheating Because ChatGPT Told Him To ![professor-accuses-students-chatgpt]() *Rear view of male professor talking to large group of college students at lecture hall. \Image: Getty Images\* ## Mumm's The Word It's clear that academia is having a normal one in the wake of ChatGPT. As [*Rolling Stone* reports](), one such normal-brained professor at Texas A&M University says he asked the OpenAI chatbot whether his students had used it to cheat on their final essays — and told him that the whole class had used ChatGPT to write their papers, which is considered cheating at most schools. That teacher, Dr. Jared Mumm, went on to flunk the entire class based on what ChatGPT had told him, even though most of them were due to graduate this month. Unsurprisingly, though, it turns out the chatbot seems to have made up the cheating allegations. "I copy and paste your responses in \[ChatGPT\] and \[it\] will tell me if the program generated the content," Mumm, a rodeo and agriculture teacher, reportedly wrote to his students before offering them a chance to make up the final three essays in order to be able to graduate. That's not, as *Rolling Stone* notes, how ChatGPT works. While there [is software that purports]() to detect whether a given text was written by a chatbot, that software is not ChatGPT itself, which is known to spew [misinformation and falsehoods](). ## Viral AI After the debacle [went viral on Reddit](), *Rolling Stone* was able to get in touch with the original poster, who claims to be engaged to one of the students Mumm flunked. According to the user, the rodeo professor — yes, that's a thing — apparently flunked "several" other classes in a similar fashion. To make the situation spicier, [an enterprising Redditor]() ran [Mumm's dissertation]() through ChatGPT to see if it could really "detect" plagiarism — and, lo and behold, it claimed that the professor used AI to write his thesis, which was submitted in 2021, before ChatGPT was even a thing. "The text contains several characteristics that are consistent with AI-generated content," ChatGPT reportedly said. In a [statement to *PC Magazine*](), Texas A&T claimed that "no students failed the class or were barred from graduating as a result of this issue," though their diplomas were still on hold as Mumm works with students "to determine whether AI was used to write their assignments and, if so, at what level." Both *Rolling Stone* and *Futurism* have reached out to Mumm for comment about the situation, but have yet to hear back. The whole thing sounds like an ivory tower nightmare, and as humorous as it sounds from the outside, it must be maddening for the students whose diplomas are being withheld by the latest AI maelstrom. **More on ChatGPT:** [*Newspaper Apologizes for Accidentally Running Deranged AI-Generated Article*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()