The digital erosion of intellectual integrity: why misuse of generative AI is worse than plagiarism

Abstract

Sometimes students cheat. Sometimes academic staff do too, but historically, the most common manifestation of unethical academic behaviour has been plagiarism by students: instead of writing his or her own essay or assignment, a student copies existing text, in whole or in part. In addition to educating students about the unethical nature of plagiarism, universities and other learning institutions have developed various methods of detecting incidents of and reducing the incidence of plagiarism, primarily through a combination of clear rules forbidding plagiarism, plagiarism detection software such as Turnitin, and punishment for students caught plagiarising.

Topics & Concepts