With the rise of agentic models, why stop at using chatbots to look up answers? Some students are directing AI agents to “take” entire online courses for them, letting the software run in the background while they focus on better uses of their time, like doomscrolling on their phone or gaming.

The New York Times unpacked the trend in a recent story, and it’s a testament to how extreme AI-enabled cheating has become, but also of the perils of getting an education in a virtual environment instead of a physical one. Professors can’t rely on supervised exams and oral presentations in online courses like they’re starting to shift to in-person ones.

Since everything is behind the screen, students can ask an AI agent to log into learning platforms like Canvas and Blackboard and complete quizzes for then, watch lecture videos, write papers, and even pose as the student and participate in discussions, a type of assignment in which they’re expected to chat with classmates and sometimes the professor about assigned reading.

AI companies are doing little to stop this.

The NYT found that none of the three most popular chatbots with students — ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grammarly — would refuse requests to write an entire paper on a student’s behalf. And they also don’t stop their models from logging into platforms like Canvas and Blackboard, and have ignored the request from educators that their models should identify themselves while they’re used on there.

The reasoning can sound quite specious. Perplexity, the company behind an AI web browser, told the NYT in a statement that requiring AI agents to identify themselves on learning platforms “would put the student’s privacy and security at risk.”

Professors feel powerless to stop the trend. Often, their university may have a partnership or deal with an AI company that provides access to a custom version of its models. This sends a mixed message to students: is AI encouraged, or verboten? Some professors will turn a blind eye AI use, and others will heavily punish it, but as a whole, it’s every instructor for themselves.

“Am I just interacting with bots here?” Karen Costa, who’s spent two decades teaching line courses, recalled asking herself, per the NYT.

“I’m not getting any guidance on how to dissuade their use,” added Carol Sewell at the California State University system, which signed a multimillion dollar deal with OpenAI last year. “I’m getting opportunities to learn more about using it.”

Despite the clear potential for teaching — and negative effects they cause, such as impaired critical thinking and memory loss — many universities are reluctant to proscribe AI entirely. That doesn’t mean some haven’t been trying to find ways around it.

The University of Chicago Law School recently banned using phones, tablets, and laptops in class for freshman-level courses, as part of its new “AI strategy.” Princeton University dropped its over century-old Honor Code tradition which let students take their exams without supervision, after an AI cheating scandal rattled the Ivy League institution.

More on AI: Homeschool Parents Are Planning Lessons With ChatGPT