One student’s parents are suing their son’s Massachusetts school, saying his use of artificial intelligence for research purposes during the project was not outlined in the school’s guidelines on academic integrity, but the student’s grade and admission to the National Honor Society was impacted as a result, according to court documents filed on Oct. 8.
The parents believe their son was “unfairly” punished.
The Hingham High School student is at the top of his class, receiving a perfect ACT score and top marks on his AP tests, according to the lawsuit.
In December 2023, the teacher checked the student and his classmate’s progress on the assignment, according to court documents. She noticed that the students cited the use of AI.
The students did not use AI to write their paper, according to the lawsuit, and instead used it to help research the topic and craft an outline.
“If it were the paper part of this, you know, we’d be having a different conversation,” the parent’s attorney, Peter Farrell, said in an interview with McClatchy News.
The teacher accused the students of cheating because they used AI, according to court documents. She had the students abandon the project, start over and work separately, then gave the student a failing grade on the assignment despite completion of the project.
As a result of the failing grade on an AP United States History project, his cumulative grade dropped to a C, the lawsuit said.
Hingham High School’s attorney declined to comment on the case.
Documents filed on behalf of the school and teachers accused in the lawsuit say guidelines for the use of AI were outlined in English courses the student took.
The school argues the student listened to a presentation called “AI & Schoolwork” where he was told about the guidelines, according to court documents. The copy of the presentation, included in court documents, says students should only use AI if allowed by a teacher, and it must be cited.
FALLOUT FROM DISCIPLINARY ACTION
While the lowered grade would show on the student’s transcript, the punishment for using AI in a project went beyond grades, according to the lawsuit.
Due to his academic integrity infraction with the school, the student was barred from admission to the National Honor Society, with the faculty advisor of the society calling his case “the worst episode of academic dishonesty we have seen in sixteen years,” according to the lawsuit.
However, there had been seven other students at the school inducted into the honors society despite having an academic integrity infractions on their records, according to the lawsuit.
One student’s infraction also involved AI, the lawsuit said.
As the student applies to colleges, the lawsuit says the disciplinary actions taken against the student could impact his ability to get into the elite colleges he is applying to.
Since the case’s original filing, Farrell said the school’s court filings showed an intention to induct the student into the National Honor Society, though it had not been directly communicated to the student or his parents.
AI IN EDUCATION
According to the lawsuit, there are no federal or state statutes regulating the use of AI in classrooms.
“People know that it needs to have some regulation, but they’re not exactly sure how to go about it,” Farrell said.
He emphasized that “AI is not plagiarism,” adding there needs to be clear guidelines about how AI should be used in academic settings and when it is off-limits.
“AI as a whole leads people to do a deeper dive into different segments of whatever the topic is,” the attorney said.
Just as other technologies have been integrated into classrooms over the past decades, Farrell said AI needs to be “embraced.”
“It’s not cheating. It is not plagiarism, and we intend to prove that in court,” Farrell said.
Hingham is about a 20-mile drive southeast from Boston.
©2024 The Charlotte Observer. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
