Keeping it Together: She lost her scholarship over an AI allegation

University of North Georgia student Marley Stevens was sitting in her car when she got the email notification: Her professor had given her a zero on a paper and accused her of using artificial intelligence to cheat. 

“I couldn't sleep or focus on anything,” Stevens says. “I felt helpless."

I’m Rachel, a youth mental health reporting fellow here at Paste BN, and this week I wrote about false positive AI detections and the impact they can have on student mental health. 

Stevens is among a growing number of students who say they were unjustly accused of using AI to cheat. Detection software can misidentify writing as AI-generated and are biased against non-native English speakers, and education experts warn against using the detectors in a disciplinary context.

Schools have looked for solutions to address an onslaught of AI-doctored work following the November 2022 launch of ChatGPT. But with detection software comes risk of false positives — and the resulting misconduct processes can drag on for weeks or months.

A false allegation can also raise concerns about forfeiting merit and academic scholarships and losing visas for international students. In extreme situations, students have received letters accusing them of plagiarism after graduation.

“Anxiety is maybe the most mentioned word that I hear from students going through academic misconduct,” says New York-based education consultant Lucie Vágnerová. “They're telling me they're not eating, they're not sleeping, they're feeling guilty.”

You can learn more about AI allegations and experts’ tips for how students can handle a misconduct process here, and find other important articles from our team below. 

Rachel Hale’s role covering Youth Mental Health at Paste BN is supported by a partnership with Pivotal Ventures and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input. Reach her at rhale@usatoday.com and @rachelleighhale on X.