Student catches professor using ChatGPT to make notes, demands her tuition fees back

ChatGPT is being widely used by students and professionals across the world to get quicker answers and make their jobs easier. However, it is also looked down upon since anyone using ChatGPT is perceived to be lazy. A ruckus recently ensued over its use in a university in America. However, this time it was not a student, but a professor who was caught using ChatGPT. The student who raised the matter asked that her tuition fee be returned.

A student of Northeastern University in Massachusetts got suspicious that her business professor had used ChatGPT to prepare lecture notes. Ella Stapleton told the New York Times that she noticed something strange about the notes. She scanned them and noticed certain things that are often found in content created by ChatGPT. The search citation and basic misspellings threw her off.

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College student complained about professor using ChatGPT

Stapleton was angry to see her professor using ChatGPT when the students were forbidden from doing so. She told NYT, "He’s telling us not to use it, and then he’s using it himself."

Ella went to the university administration and complained about the professor. She demanded her tuition fees back. The matter was taken up, and several meetings were held that lasted months. Ultimately, the university refused to return $8,000 to Ella.

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Meanwhile, Stapleton's professor, Rick Arrowood, said he used various AI tools to make his notes look "fresh." He told the NYT that ChatGPT, the Perplexity AI search engine, and an AI presentation generator called Gamma helped him in this quest.

Professor admits he made a mistake

Rick admitted that he checked the notes to make sure he removed all signs of AI content. However, he obviously missed or did not catch everything. The Northeastern professor has learnt his lesson from the episode. He says faculty should think hard about using ChatGPT, and even if they do lean on it, then it should be disclosed to the students.

He says if others learn from his experience, then "that’s my happy spot."