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When college students seek out attorney Adrienne Hahn, they're often petrified and desperate: An instructor has accused them of using artificial intelligence to cheat. 

Suddenly, students are racing to successfully defend themselves or risk the implosion of their college career. In some cases, sanctions that result from an academic integrity violation, such as a semester-long suspension, have devastating implications. After all, graduate schools, prospective employers, licensing boards, and the government often consider cheating disqualifying.  

"Any of those consequences follow the student from that period on, unless you negotiate that away, somehow," said Hahn, founder of the education law firm Hahn Legal Group, APC.

While there's no tally of how many American college students have faced AI cheating accusations this academic year or previously, the legal firms that specialize in education law are very busy handling their cases. Some of their clients are wealthy, attend the nation's most prestigious universities, and can afford legal representation.

Others come from modest backgrounds, are enrolled at state colleges, and have few financial resources. Hahn said the fallout can be particularly devastating for students attending college on a scholarship.

What these students all share in common is the real fear that AI cheating accusations will destroy their future before it's even begun. 

AI cheating accusation at school: getting to the truth

Hahn's firm represents students across California. She said the volume of their inquiries has skyrocketed in the past two years.

Many students accused of cheating didn't actually use AI to complete an assignment or test, Hahn says, or they don't realize their use of AI violated a policy that may not have been clearly communicated.

Some students do use AI, but share extenuating circumstances. One student Hahn represented incorporated AI into their classwork at a moment of intense personal distress: They held down multiple jobs and both of their parents were experiencing health crises. The school administration was sympathetic to the situation and avoided an overly punitive consequence after Hahn lobbied against it.

But there are students who don't disclose unfavorable or damning information about their AI use, only for Hahn's team to discover it during the investigation process. 

"I can't give you the right advice unless I know the truth," she said. "I still have clients who lie to me. That's a waste of their money and time."

The cost for hiring representation varies based on the case, but it 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 LLF National Law Firm, there are as many as 250 clients at any given time working with counsel on AI-related academic integrity violations, said Thomas Terrill, director of the firm's National Education Defense Practice Group.

Terrill said AI-related cheating cases now make up a substantial portion of LLF National Law Firm's caseload. Like clockwork, inquiries spike during midterm and final exams.

While lawyers can't represent students at their school's administrative hearings, Terrill said that legal expertise can "level" an uneven playing field in which administrators hold tremendous power over students' lives. 

In Terrill's experience, some schools try to fairly evaluate AI cheating accusations. Yet, he's also dealt with rushed investigations, limited access to evidence, and presumption of student fault based on a misunderstanding of how AI works.

"Many students feel they are in the position of proving their innocence rather than the institution meeting a clear burden of proof," Terrill said in an email.

The lawyers Mashable interviewed had strong opinions on this dynamic. Andrew Miltenberg, the senior litigation partner at the law firm Nesenoff & Miltenberg, observed that the balance of power tilts away from the student and toward the "faculty fiefdom." Some professors, he said, enjoy surprising leeway in making and adjudicating AI cheating charges.

Miltenberg characterized the AI programs they rely on to "check" for cheating or plagiarism as "primitive" and prone to false positives.

What lawyers recommend to accused students

Once a student is accused, they need a defense strategy.

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

Terrill said the firm reviews metadata, compares a student's writing samples, and looks over the instructor's communications about the assignment in question.

Other factors, like neurodivergence and being a non-native English speaker, matter too. AI detection tools, which faculty often rely on, may falsely flag those students' work more frequently than their neurotypical, English-speaking peers, according to Terrill.

If the charge is based on the finding of an AI detection tool, Terrill said it's crucial to know which program, because it may allow the student to challenge its reliability.

Preparing for a rapid timeline

Students don't have much time to collect the necessary evidence, said Miltenberg.

That's because, in his experience, academic integrity cases unfold much faster than other misconduct or integrity cases, which may take months to investigate because they involve sex discrimination, harassment, or sexual assault.

"It happens boom, boom, boom," Miltenberg said of AI cheating allegations.

A student could be accused on a Tuesday, meet with an administration official two days later, and be given an ultimatum that Friday. If they don't agree to a sanction, the charge will move to a hearing board, an institutional panel that reviews the case and decides the student's fate.

"It really moves very fast," Miltenberg said. "So it doesn't lend itself to someone getting their balance after what most students feel is a gut punch."

What resolution looks like

Hahn said administrators told students she later represented that they shouldn't hire a lawyer. She believes that's largely because university and college investigation offices are "completely buried" by AI cheating cases and want them resolved as soon as possible. Legal representation can, of course, extend the process with requests for evidence and so on.

Hahn described one case in which a student was accused of AI use in a math assignment because they didn't cite a specific formula. The professor failed the student as a consequence, an outcome that Hahn managed to get overturned.

In some instances of disclosed AI use, Hahn and her team know the administrators and can appeal to them for an alternative sanction before the hearing that won't jeopardize the student's future. That might stringent parameters for continuing their education, such as probation or a required medical leave of absence.

"The dismissal or failures — that will follow them for life," she said. "If they can get back in and finish their degree — it was a bad moment in their life, but they can overcome it. People have bad moments in their lives."

Leniency, however, is not much of an option if the student has a history of cheating or academic integrity violations.

Why suing is complicated

Lawsuits are a dicey strategy because courts will not grant students anonymity in these cases, Miltenberg said. So suing the school means a student must "out" themselves to "get justice," he added. The resulting court documents will be publicly searchable and include the student's name in association with an academic integrity violation.

Miltenberg said the way these cases are currently handled puts every student in a potential bind.

"There is no clear path at any institution right now," he said, noting that any appearance of cheating can trigger an investigation. At the same time, what that looks like is subjective to the faculty member or teaching assistant who made the allegation.