In a shocking incident, a professor at a university in Texas failed most of his students after ChatGPT falsely told him that the essays they submitted were written by using artificial intelligence, as per a report in Rolling Stone.
Dr Jared Mumm, a campus rodeo instructor and agricultural course instructor, informed the students via email on Monday that they would be failing recent assignments because he had tested their writing with ChatGPT and the AI tool claimed to have written them all.
As per a partner of a student taught by Mr Mumm, he wrote in the email, "I copy and paste your responses in (ChatGPT) and (it) will tell me if the program generated the content." In order to change the failing grade, which may potentially jeopardise the degrees of the students, Dr Mumm offered them a make-up assignment.
According to the Washington Post, Dr Mumm said, "The final grade for the course is due today at 5 p.m. I will be giving everyone in this course an 'X,' indicating incomplete."
Dr Mumm also included personal remarks with the email in a website hosting grades. "I will not grade chat Gpt s***. I have to gauge what you are learning, not a computer," he wrote on one student's assignment. The message spread panic among the students, who some thought might lose their degrees. A student claimed the incident sent her into a fit of anger. She gathered proof of her work as her essays had been written on Google Docs, which keeps track of timestamps and presented it to the professor in a meeting.
Speaking to the outlet, on the condition of anonymity, she said, "We've been through a lot to get these degrees. The thought of my hard work not being acknowledged, and my character being questioned. ... It just really frustrated me."
Dr Mumm has so far not commented on the matter.
