The University of Dhaka has punished two students from the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism for allegedly using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to cheat in examinations.
The students are Fathun Karim Chowdhury, a member of the convening committee of Bangladesh Chhatra Dal at Muktijoddha Ziaur Rahman Hall, and Md Ferdous, an elected executive member of Haji Muhammad Mohsin Hall Students’ Union from a panel backed by Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir.
Both are students of the department’s 18th batch of the 2023-24 academic year.
Under a decision of the university syndicate, Karim was penalised under the “Exam +2” provision, while Ferdous received an “Exam +1” penalty.
The “Exam +2” penalty means the examination in which the student was found to have used unfair means is cancelled, and the student is barred from taking the next two examinations. Under “Exam +1”, the relevant examination is cancelled and the student is barred from taking the following examination.
According to university sources, Karim was caught using a mobile phone placed between his legs during an examination on June 11. An examination of his phone later found searches on Google’s AI-powered Gemini, including a search for the answer to the first question of the examination.
His answer script was seized at 10:17am. Some of the answer had already been written, and two lines in his script were found to exactly match an answer generated by Gemini after the same question was entered into the service.
The answer script and other evidence were subsequently sent to the Office of the Controller of Examinations.
The matter was later placed before the university’s Disciplinary Council, which recommended action against Karim at its August 20 meeting. Based on the recommendation, the syndicate decided to punish him at its August 31 meeting.
Meanwhile, Ferdous was punished for allegedly using ChatGPT to find answers during a retake examination for Course 107.
University sources said Ferdous left the examination hall at around 11:00am, saying he needed to use the washroom.
He allegedly went to a department corridor, obtained a smartphone from a senior student and used ChatGPT to search for answers to the examination questions.
Teachers on duty caught him during the attempt. An examination of the seized phone’s search history reportedly showed that questions appearing in the examination had been searched there.
The teacher in charge subsequently reported his answer script to the Office of the Controller of Examinations.
The matter was referred to the Disciplinary Council, which recommended punishment at its August 20 meeting. The syndicate, chaired by Vice-Chancellor Professor A B M Obaidul Islam, approved the punishment on August 31.
The decision was confirmed in an order signed by Acting Controller of Examinations Dr Himadri Shekhar Chakraborty on September 7.
According to a university notice issued on September 7, a total of 64 students from various departments, institutes and affiliated institutions were punished under the “Exam +1”, “Exam +2” and “Exam +3” provisions for using unfair means and other offences.
The punishment of the two students over alleged AI-assisted cheating has brought renewed attention to the use of technology to commit unfair means in university examinations.
