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Business Insider
07-07-2025
- Business Insider
I'm a university lecturer concerned that students are using AI to cheat. It's made my workload skyrocket, and I've had to make drastic changes.
This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Risa Morimoto, a senior lecturer in economics at SOAS University of London, in England. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Students always cheat. I've been a lecturer for 18 years, and I've dealt with cheating throughout that time, but with AI tools becoming widely available in recent years, I've experienced a significant change. There are definitely positive aspects to AI. It's much easier to get access to information and students can use these tools to improve their writing, spelling, and grammar, so there are fewer badly written essays. However, I believe some of my students have been using AI to generate essay content that pulls information from the internet, instead of using material from my classes to complete their assignments. AI is supposed to help us work efficiently, but my workload has skyrocketed because of it. I have to spend lots of time figuring out whether the work students are handing in was really written by them. I've decided to take dramatic action, changing the way I assess students to encourage them to be more creative and rely less on AI. The world is changing, so universities can't stand still. Cheating has become harder to detect because of AI I've worked at SOAS University of London since 2012. My teaching focus is ecological economics. Initially, my teaching style was exam-based, but I found that students were anxious about one-off exams, and their results wouldn't always correspond to their performance. I eventually pivoted to a focus on essays. Students chose their topic and consolidated theories into an essay. It worked well — until AI came along. Cheating used to be easier to spot. I'd maybe catch one or two students cheating by copying huge chunks of text from internet sources, leading to a plagiarism case. Even two or three years ago, detecting inappropriate AI use was easier due to signs like robotic writing styles. Now, with more sophisticated AI technologies, it's harder to detect, and I believe the scale of cheating has increased. I'll read 100 essays and some of them will be very similar using identical case examples, that I've never taught. These examples are typically referenced on the internet, which makes me think the students are using an AI tool that is incorporating them. Some of the essays will cite 20 pieces of literature, but not a single one will be something from the reading list I set. While students can use examples from internet sources in their work, I'm concerned that some students have just used AI to generate the essay content without reading or engaging with the original source. I started using AI detection tools to assess work, but I'm aware this technology has limitations. AI tools are easy to access for students who feel pressured by the amount of work they have to do. University fees are increasing, and a lot of students work part-time jobs, so it makes sense to me that they want to use these tools to complete work more quickly. There's no obvious way to judge misconduct During the first lecture of my module, I'll tell students they can use AI to check grammar or summarize the literature to better understand it, but they can't use it to generate responses to their assignments. SOAS has guidance for AI use among students, which sets similar principles about not using AI to generate essays. Over the past year, I've sat on an academic misconduct panel at the university, dealing with students who've been flagged for inappropriate AI use across departments. I've seen students refer to these guidelines and say that they only used AI to support their learning and not to write their responses. It can be hard to make decisions because you can't be 100% sure from reading the essay whether it's AI-generated or not. It's also hard to draw a line between cheating and using AI to support learning. Next year, I'm going to dramatically change my assignment format My colleagues and I speak about the negative and positive aspects of AI, and we're aware that we still have a lot to learn about the technology ourselves. The university is encouraging lecturers to change their teaching and assessment practices. At the department level, we often discuss how to improve things. I send my two young children to a school with an alternative, progressive education system, rather than a mainstream British state school. Seeing how my kids are educated has inspired me to try two alternative assessment methods this coming academic year. I had to go through a formal process with the university to get them approved. I'll ask my students to choose a topic and produce a summary of what they learned in the class about it. Second, they'll create a blog, so they can translate what they've understood of the highly technical terms into a more communicable format. My aim is to make sure the assignments are directly tied to what we've learned in class and make assessments more personal and creative. The old assessment model, which involves memorizing facts and regurgitating them in exams, isn't useful anymore. ChatGPT can easily give you a beautiful summary of information like this. Instead, educators need to help students with soft skills, communication, and out-of-the-box thinking. In a statement to BI, a SOAS spokesperson said students are guided to use AI in ways that "uphold academic integrity." They said the university encouraged students to pursue work that is harder for AI to replicate and have "robust mechanisms" in place for investigating AI misuse. "The use of AI is constantly evolving, and we are regularly reviewing and updating our policies to respond to these changes," the spokesperson added.
Boston Globe
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Dalai Lama lays out succession plan, denying Chinese efforts at control
The Dalai Lama's refusal of outside interference is 'a message to China and its supporters, and one that is likely to infuriate Beijing,' said Robert Barnett, a Tibet expert at SOAS University of London. 'China is likely to dispute the Dalai Lama's decision in any way that it can, and that will mean forcing Tibetans inside Tibet to denounce it and pressurizing foreign governments to prevent Tibetan exiles from carrying out a future search for the reincarnation,' he said. Advertisement China's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday repeated its position that the Dalai Lama's reincarnation must be approved by the central government in Beijing. 'Tibetan Buddhism was born in China and is a religion with Chinese characteristics,' spokesperson Mao Ning said at a news briefing. The atheist Chinese Communist Party, which annexed Tibet in 1951, has in recent years, stepped up its long-standing efforts to influence the Tibetan Buddhist religion and forcibly assimilate the population in Tibet as part of a broader effort to control ethnic and religious minorities. It replicated many of these practices during a fierce crackdown on the Muslim Uyghur population in the Xinjiang region. Advertisement The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed popular uprising against Chinese control, and relocated to northern India, where he set up a government-in-exile in Dharamshala. In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 'for advocating peaceful solutions based upon tolerance and mutual respect.' Despite Beijing's long shadow, Tibetan Buddhist leaders have been celebrating the Dalai Lama's long life during the gathering this week. Under Tibetan tradition, the Dalai Lama's successor is found through the process of reincarnation, by which the religious leader is reborn in another person's body after his death. Tenzin Gyatso, the current 14th Dalai Lama, was born in northeastern Tibet, in what is today the western Chinese province of Qinghai. He was recognized as the reincarnation of the previous Tibetan leader at the age of 2. Though the Dalai Lama has previously written that his successor will be born outside of China in the 'free world,' his Wednesday statement made no mention of this — an omission some analysts viewed as an attempt not to provoke China more than necessary. Beijing views the upcoming period of transition to a new Dalai Lama as a 'strategic opportunity' to further cement its control over Tibet, said Chemi Lhamo, a New York-based Tibetan activist. However, she thinks China's view is mistaken. 'The Tibetan people and the Tibetan resistance and resilience has existed long before the institution of His Holiness the Dalai Lama,' she said. Advertisement Reincarnation can lead to a vacuum of leadership if the successor is a young child when they are identified — potentially leading to a long gap before the monk grows up and takes the reins of power. Some have speculated that the Dalai Lama could avoid this issue by identifying an adult successor, but many experts agree that the more traditional process of reincarnation is likely to prevail. China has interfered in Tibetan spiritual processes before. After the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the second-ranking Tibetan Buddhist leader, was identified in 1995, the young child disappeared and Beijing appointed its own Panchen Lama. The Chinese government claims that the young boy that Tibetans had appointed — who came to be known as the world's youngest political prisoner — grew up to graduate from college and live a 'normal life.' Ahead of the birthday celebrations for the Dalai Lama, Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with the Beijing-appointed Panchen Lama and encouraged him to 'systematically promote the sinicization of religion in China and promote the modernization of Tibet,' according to state media. On Sunday, the state propaganda apparatus trumpeted Xi's message urging Tibetan villagers to 'to uphold ethnic solidarity and create a happier and better life.' In the decades since the Dalai Lama fled Tibet, China has implemented a vast campaign of state control in Tibet, and has been accused by governments and activist organizations of human rights abuses and cultural repression. The Chinese Communist Party strictly controls access to Tibet and bans Tibetans from displaying photos of the Dalai Lama. 'The Chinese Communist Party has systematically undermined Tibetan culture, religion, and traditions,' said Khenpo Sonam Tenphel, speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile. Advertisement Tibetan children face abuse, neglect, indoctrination, and the erasure of their identities at boarding schools run by the Chinese state, Tibet Action Institute, an international human rights group, said in a recent report. Children are separated from their families and forced to speak Mandarin, part of an effort to forcibly assimilate Tibetans that threatens their survival as a distinct people, the group said. In the run-up to the Dharamshala gathering, Beijing has ramped up the propaganda machine and placed Tibetan villages under particularly 'tight security,' according to Tenphel. Chen Wenqing, a top law enforcement official and secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, last month visited Qinghai province and emphasized the importance of maintaining security and stability during sensitive moments. He underscored the need to 'resolutely win the anti-secession struggle involving Tibet,' according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua. Barnett described Chen's comments as 'combative' and said they indicate the importance Beijing is placing on the Dalai Lama's speech, even though his comments were largely expected. 'They're reacting in what appears to be a very heavy-handed way in anticipation of this statement,' he said. The Dalai Lama has attempted to negotiate with Beijing for decades under his 'Middle Way' approach, which advocates for increased autonomy for Tibetans in China but does not push for Tibetan independence. This diplomatic effort has not been successful, and it remains unclear how the Dalai Lama's successor will approach dialogue with Beijing. 'I have tried my best, ceaselessly, to make openings for a negotiated settlement with Beijing,' the Dalai Lama wrote in an opinion article in The Washington Post in March. 'In fact, through my envoys, I have presented to Beijing a road map that outlines how a mutually satisfactory resolution of the long-standing issue of Tibet could be achieved … The Tibetan people have no choice but to persist in our just struggle.' Advertisement Penpa Tsering, the head of Tibet's government-in-exile, told a news conference Wednesday that 'there are some back channels which are not official' with Beijing but all the Chinese government's policies in Tibet are aimed at 'destroying the identity of the Tibetan people.' The Dalai Lama would visit China depending on his health, and if it was possible without preconditions from Beijing, he said.
France 24
13-06-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Why did Israel attack Iran in the middle of US-Iran nuclear talks?
Once again, the world has woken up to watch the minute hand inch closer to midnight. Early on Friday, more than 200 Israeli fighter jets hurtled across the skies over Iran, hitting targets linked to the nation's burgeoning nuclear programme and killing at least three senior members of the Islamic Republic's military leadership – as well as several nuclear scientists. The attacks, which Israel has said will not stop, reportedly also hit a number of residential apartment blocks in the capital Tehran, killing an unknown number of women and children, state media said. Emergency services have said that 95 people wounded in the strikes have so far been brought to medical centres across the country. The strikes came the morning after news broke that the sixth round of the US-Iran nuclear talks would take place in Oman Sunday, with US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff set to hold another round of indirect negotiations with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. For now, the two sides seem far apart – a US proposal shared with Tehran in May reportedly called for a complete end to the enrichment of nuclear fuel on Iranian soil, even for a civilian energy programme. Tehran has reportedly been drafting its own counter-proposal, which would preserve the Islamic Republic's right to domestically enrich uranium for civilian purposes while also securing a way out from under the crippling economic sanctions levelled by Washington. As rumours spread Thursday of an impending Israeli attack on Iran, Trump told reporters he was counselling restraint. "We are fairly close to a pretty good agreement," he said. "I don't want [Israel] going in, because I think it would blow it." Hours later, Israel's fighter jets were in the air. 'Sabotage' Diba Mirzaei, a doctoral researcher at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), said that it was no coincidence the attacks had been launched on the eve of the talks. 'I don't think that Israel only wanted to derail the negotiations,' she said. 'I actually think they wanted to sabotage them, to force Iran to maybe abandon them altogether." Seyed Ali Alavi, a lecturer in Middle Eastern studies at SOAS University of London, said that the strikes would doubtless cast a shadow over Sunday's talks – if they still went ahead. "The recent direct attacks on Iran are unprecedented since the Iran-Iraq War. It is very likely to impact the ongoing negotiations between Washington and Tehran, particularly the Sunday meeting," he said. "However, we have not yet received news or announcements from Tehran regarding the Sunday meeting. This does not imply that the negotiations have been fully terminated – it is likely that they could continue, but under a more intense atmosphere." Mirzaei pointed to reports in Iran's own state media that the initial attacks had badly wounded Ali Shamkhani, one of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's senior advisors and a crucial figure in the ongoing talks. 'During the attacks, one of the main negotiators on the Iranian side, Ali Shamkhani, has been reported either killed or severely injured – so an important person on the Iranian side is now missing or not capable of being part of those negotiations.' As the US woke up to the news of the attacks, Trump struck a decidedly different tone. As US officials denied any involvement in the attack, only saying that Israel had informed the US of its strikes ahead of time, the president took to his personal social media platform Truth Social, where he appeared to portray the attacks as a triumph of hardline negotiating tactics. 'I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal,' he wrote. 'I told them, in the strongest of words, to 'just do it,' but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn't get it done.' 'There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.' A few hours later, the president posted again, reminding the world of a 60-day deadline he had reportedly given the Islamic Republic at the beginning of the talks. 'Two months ago, I gave Iran a 60-day ultimatum to 'make a deal',' he wrote. 'They should have done it! Today is day 61. "Now they have, perhaps, a second chance!" Months in the making Mirzaei said that the US's hardline position during the talks cast some doubt on how committed Trump – who pulled the US out of the six-nation nuclear treaty with Iran during his first term in office – was to sealing a deal on Tehran's nuclear programme. 'I'm not really sure how sincere the Trump administration is in those nuclear talks,' she said. 'The US basically wants Iran to not even have the civil use of nuclear energy, which would be very far-reaching. No country has to do that – when you look at the non-proliferation treaty, every country has the right to use nuclear energy for civil purposes. So of course Iran would not agree to such a deal.' Iran's own willingness to restrict its nuclear programme to civilian use was called into question earlier this week when the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – the UN's nuclear watchdog – determined that Tehran was not complying with its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It was the first such censure issued against Iran in almost 20 years, prompting a furious Tehran to announce that it would be setting up a new enrichment site in a 'secure' location. 'The censure by the IAEA is very severe,' Mirzaei said, adding that the litany of non-proliferation breaches listed in the report suggested that Tehran "isn't interested in de-escalating either". Tehran launches about 100 drones towards Israel after Iran's nuclear sites hit 04:04 Israel, the only nation in the Middle East to possess nuclear weapons, has consistently painted a nuclear Tehran as an existential threat – a refrain once again picked up in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's first speech following the attacks. Mirzaei, who stressed that Israel had fought hard against the first multilateral agreement on Iran's nuclear programme more than 10 years ago, said that the magnitude of Friday's attack spoke to a plan potentially months in the making. '[As a trigger,] the nuclear talks between Iran and the US were more important for Israel than the IAEA censure,' she said. 'Because if you look at an attack of that scale, this is not something that has been planned for a couple of days, but has probably been planned for weeks, for months even … I think the plans were there, and now, because of the meeting that was supposed to take place on Sunday between Iran and the US, they basically saw that the timing was fit to do that.' Now, with Tehran reeling from the unprecedented assault, the question of just how Iran will respond to the strikes in the days to come has taken on an urgent edge. 'I don't think that Iran is interested in a full-scale war, but I don't think that it can actually prevent a full breaking out if those attacks continue,' Mirzaei said. 'But instead of just looking at the military options that Iran has, you can also look at the political options. And I do believe that Iran could in the near future actually withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, for example – it could abandon its cooperation with the IAEA, it could actually just cancel all of the negotiations with the US. And all those options on the political front are also very worrisome.'
The National
07-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
British Israelis urge Government to act on Gaza starvation
The petition, launched via non-profit ActionNetwork, was accompanied by a letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy containing detailed reference to Israel's use of starvation and aid blockades as an illegal weapon of war. Starmer and Lammy were urged to end the UK's trade and partnership agreement with Israel until it allowed 'food and medicine into Gaza in significant quantities'. READ MORE: UK firms sent Israel thousands of military items despite export ban The letter said: 'We are watching in horror the images coming from Gaza of malnourished babies and children. "Since the 2nd of March 2025, Israel's hard-right government has banned all aid from entering the Gaza Strip. "This hermetic siege is by far the longest and harshest ever to be imposed on the Strip.' Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government were referred to as 'the most extreme in Israel's history', noting that hostages from the October 7 attack have also been affected by the famine imposed on Gaza. Yair Wallach, an associate professor at SOAS University of London, urged other Israelis in the UK to sign the petition, writing on social media platform Bluesky that "pleading with Netanyahu's rogue government will not do". READ MORE: Irish broadcaster calls for 'discussions' on Israeli Eurovision involvement Palestinians are becoming increasingly desperate as a result of Israel's assault on Gaza, with the United Nations saying what little food is left in supermarkets is unaffordable for most and that 80% of the population are dependent on the contents of aid trucks stuck at the border. New plans were announced earlier this week regarding the seizure of the Gaza Strip, which would see hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced and forced into the south, worsening the already dire humanitarian crisis in the enclave. At least 61 people have been killed by Israeli strikes since this morning, with the total death toll since October 7, 2023, sitting at over 52,000.
