June 15, 2025 — 5.00amSaveLog in,registerorsubscribeto save articles for later.Save articles for laterAdd articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.Got itNormal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text sizeLucy Carroll reports in today’sSun-Heraldthat the number of students caught cheating in the HSC has doubled in the past five years, a trend some in the sector have attributed to rising instances of teenagers using generative AI in their assessments.With all we know about the pervasiveness of artificial intelligence and its increasing sophistication, the figure is likely to be an underestimate. Indeed, Australian Tutoring Association president Mohan Dhall told Carroll that malpractice as a result of AI was likely going “vastly undetected”.Over the past two years, the university sector has grappled with how to manage the use of AI in assessments.After initially reacting with outright bans, the institutions – increasingly reliant on online learning as a cost-saving teaching model – have changed their tune, allowing AI to be used in at least some assessments.At present, the University of Sydney isphasing in a policy that allows students to use AI in some assessments– a radical reversal of its previous ban on the technology. In the coming semester, students will be able to use AI in all take-home assessments, and co-ordinators cannot ban its use.LoadingAt the University of NSW, teachers set a level of acceptable AI use for each assessment. The university signed an Australian-first deal last year with ChatGPT to roll out a special version of the technology on campus.The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) believes it is the responsibility of individual schools and school sectors to manage policies for the use of AI in their establishments. But, in the case of the high-pressure, statewide HSC, this approach surely cannot hold.Ifscenes outside selective schools test centres when some computers malfunctioned last monthare anything to go by, any sense of unfairness across the system will not be tolerated: too much rides on the marks received by students in the NSW school system, be it a place at a top-performing selective school, or admission into a dream university course.As Carroll reports today, a paper published last month by Catholic Schools NSW said HSC take-home assessments should decrease in importance for a student’s overall grade until “the AI threat to assessment integrity can be satisfactorily contained”.AdvertisementAnd this threat is, indeed, an issue for NESA, which must decide what purpose take-home assessments have in determining a student’s academic prowess.The nature of a take-home assessment is that it is open-book. The use of search engines, textbooks and study guides were already considered fair game provided the result was not plagiarism. In the year 2025, should AI be included on that list?One might cynically suggest that programs such as ChatGPT have merely democratised theessay ghost-writing already taking place at coaching colleges across Sydney.Sanctioned or not, AI has probably already been used by the tens of thousands of tech-savvy teenagers who will finish their schooling this year.While institution-by-institution policies have worked for the tertiary education sector, our schools need clearer guidelines.Bevan Shields sends an exclusive newsletter to subscribers each week.Sign up to receive his Note from the Editor.SaveLog in,registerorsubscribeto save articles for later.License this articleHSCFor subscribersEditorialThe Herald's View– Since the Herald was first published in 1831, the editorial team has believed it important to express a considered view on the issues of the day for readers, always putting the public interest first.Loading