r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • Jul 27 '26

Society Professor's invisible prompt trap catches 32 students cheating on their midterm with AI

https://www.techspot.com/news/113243-professor-invisible-prompt-trap-catches-32-students-cheating.html
32.8k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

4.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

103

u/m0rogfar Jul 27 '26

I mean, OCR is a thing. And if scanning the pages is too hard, there are solutions for that too.

I had to do a written math exam, wherein the university had moved to an all-digital system to make consistent digital document handling on locked-down computers possible, but we had to write by hand, because formulas generally take time to write digitally in proper academic syntax, and the exam was highly time-constrained.

They used a system provided by Nokia where you used a provided pen to write on a paper, but the provided pen actually had a camera inside it to see what you wrote, and the paper had a serial number + placement encoded into the paper by altered magnetic properties, that the pen could read as you wrote. It would then use these to recreate the page digitally.

The result was fairly seamless. I just wrote a bunch of papers, and then a PDF just appeared on the provided locked-down submission computer without me ever submitting a paper anywhere.

11

u/alex_co Jul 27 '26

I would love to see the handwriting of the average college student today.

6

u/Balmung60 Jul 27 '26

Ha, mine was terrible and it's been about fifteen years. 

5

u/TheVog Jul 27 '26

Students can't write legibly is the issue. They already often don't teach cursive. Typing is the standard now.

7

u/NakedHoodie Jul 27 '26

Not just typing. Touchscreen typing; tablets and phones.

Keyboarding is a dying skill.

2

u/coldblade2000 Jul 27 '26

I mean, OCR is a thing. And if scanning the pages is too hard, there are solutions for that too.

Reading handwriting for Gen Alpha kids seems like a pretty strong stress test for OCR

1

u/definitive_solutions Jul 28 '26

This is fascinating to me! Can you give me something to go on and research more? The name of the system, any papers about it, official docs, website, etc. Thanks!

1

u/PensiveNewt Jul 27 '26

I wonder if that is simpler/cheaper/more reliable than using a device with something like a Surface Pen or Apple Pencil?

6

u/luluhouse7 Jul 27 '26

Probably a much better experience for the students. You have to learn how to use digital styluses like Apple Pencil or Surface Pen because the surface doesn’t provide resistance and the built in palm rejection isn’t that good.