AI plagiarism allegations: Students hire lawyers to defend themselves

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When college students seek out lawyer Adrienne Hahn, they are often depressed and desperate: The professor accused them of using artificial intelligence to cheat.

Suddenly, students are scrambling to successfully defend themselves or risk losing their college career. In some cases, sanctions resulting from academic integrity violations, such as semester-long suspensions, have devastating consequences. After all, graduate schools, prospective employers, licensing boards and governments often view cheating as inappropriate.

“Any of those consequences follow the student from that point forward, unless you negotiate that, somehow,” said Hahn, founder of the education law firm Hahn Legal Group, APC.

Although there are no statistics on how many American college students have faced allegations of AI cheating this academic year or in the past, law firms specializing in education law are busy handling their cases. Some of their clients are wealthy, attend prestigious universities in the country, and can afford legal representation.

Some come from modest backgrounds, enroll in public colleges, and have few finances. Hahn said this drop could seriously hurt college students when they receive scholarships.

What all these students share is the very real fear that AI cheating allegations will destroy their futures before they even begin.

AI for cheating allegations in school: getting to the truth

Hahn’s firm represents students throughout California. He said the number of their inquiries has increased significantly in the past two years.

Many students accused of cheating either did not use AI to complete an assignment or test, Hahn said, or did not realize that their use of AI violated a policy that may not have been clearly communicated.

Some students are using AI, but they are sharing a growing situation. One student Hahn represented incorporated AI into their classroom work at a time of great personal stress: They held multiple jobs and both of their parents had health issues. The school administration was sympathetic to the situation and avoided the result of excessive punishment after Hahn argued against it.

But there are students who don’t disclose negative or negative information about their use of AI, only for Hahn’s team to discover it during an investigation.

“I can’t give you the right advice unless I know the truth,” he said. “I still have clients who lie to me, it’s a waste of money and time.”

The cost of hiring attorneys varies depending on the case, but can range from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands when a student decides to involve the courts.

How a lawyer can help

At the LLF National Law Firm, there are about 250 clients at any given time working with counsel on AI-related educational integrity violations, said Thomas Terrill, director of the National Education Defense Practice Group.

Terrill said AI-related fraud cases now make up a large portion of the LLF National Law Firm’s caseload. Like clockwork, the questions increase during the mid-term and final exams.

While attorneys can’t represent students in their school’s administrative hearings, Terrill said legal expertise can “level” the playing field when administrators have more power over students’ lives.

In Terrill’s experience, some schools are trying to better investigate AI cheating allegations. However, he also faced rushed investigations, limited access to evidence, and erroneous student assumptions based on misunderstandings of how AI works.

“Many students feel they are in a position to prove their innocence rather than the institution facing a clear burden of proof,” Terrill said via email.

The attorneys Mashable spoke to had strong opinions about this change. Andrew Miltenberg, senior partner in litigation at the law firm Nesenoff & Miltenberg, noted that the balance of power is shifting from the student and toward “the faculty.” Some professors, he said, enjoy incredible freedom in making and judging AI plagiarism cases.

Miltenberg characterized the AI ​​systems they rely on to “detect” cheating or cheating as “antiquated” and prone to false positives.

What lawyers recommend to accused students

If a student is accused, you need a defense strategy.

The LLF National Law Firm advises its clients to gather evidence of their identity and work process, which can sometimes be proven by Google Docs or Microsoft Word history. Time stamps, outlines, notes, and research materials are also important.

Terrill said the company reviews metadata, compares student writing samples, and looks at teacher communications about the work in question.

Other factors, such as neurodivergence and being a non-native English speaker, also matter. AI detection tools, which intelligence often relies on, can falsely flag those students’ work more often than their emotional, English-speaking peers, according to Terrill.

If the charge is based on the discovery of an AI detection tool, Terrill said it’s important to know which program, because it could allow a student to challenge its credibility.

It prepares for a fast timeline

Students don’t have much time to gather the necessary evidence, Miltenberg said.

That’s because, in his experience, academic integrity cases come up more quickly than other misconduct or integrity cases, which can take months to investigate because they involve sexual discrimination, harassment, or sexual harassment.

“It’s happening bomb, bomb, bomb,” Miltenberg said of AI’s alleged cheating.

A student may be charged on a Tuesday, meet with an administrative officer two days later, and be given a deadline that Friday. If they disagree with the punishment, the case will go to a hearing board, an institutional body that reviews the case and decides the student’s fate.

“It’s moving very quickly,” Miltenberg said. “So it doesn’t lend itself to someone getting a balance after what many students feel is a gut punch.”

What the solution looks like

Hahn said administrators told the student representatives later that they should not hire an attorney. He believes that’s because university and college investigative offices are “absolutely buried” in AI cheating cases and want them resolved as quickly as possible. Legal representation can speed up the process with requests for evidence and more.

Hahn described one case where a student was accused of using AI on a math assignment because he did not cite a specific formula. The professor failed the student as a result, an outcome Hahn was able to overturn.

In some cases of disclosure of the use of AI, Hahn and his team know the regulators and can persuade them to obtain an alternative penalty before the hearing of the case that will not jeopardize the future of the student. That may have strict restrictions on continuing their education, such as probation or required medical leave of absence.

“Getting fired or failing – that will follow them for the rest of their lives,” he said. “If they can go back and finish their degree – it was a bad time in their life, but they can overcome it. People have bad times in their lives.”

Patience, however, is not a great option if a student has a history of cheating or violating academic integrity.

Why litigation is complicated

Litigation is the last resort because the courts will not grant students anonymity in these cases, Miltenberg said. Therefore, suing the school means that the student must “take himself out” in order to “get justice,” he added. The resulting court documents will be publicly searchable and include the student’s name in connection with the academic integrity violation.

Miltenberg said the way these cases are currently being handled puts every student in a possible situation.

“There is no clear trail at any institution right now,” he said, noting that any appearance of cheating would trigger an investigation. At the same time, what that looks like depends on the faculty member or teaching assistant who made the allegations.