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Sneaking into lectures and tutorials, infiltrating group chats and sending emails impersonating professors – these are some of the increasingly desperate tactics used by contract cheating companies in a bid to claw back market share lost to generative AI.
Universities across the country say that contract cheating, where students outsource assessments to another person, has given way to cheating via AI. There has been a significant increase in the number of students being caught misusing the emerging technology.
When AI technologies emerged in 2023, most universities banned them. Institutions have gradually loosened restrictions and most now allow use of AI in some contexts but not others, a “two-lane” approach pioneered by the University of Sydney and in place at several other universities.
“There is still space for bespoke contract cheating. It’s more money and might involve a personal relationship with the person providing [the material],” said Professor Phillip Dawson from Deakin University’s Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning.
“There are still people who outsource the entirety of the degree. In courses with a face-to-face component, you need a warm body in the room.”
Kane Murdoch, Macquarie University head of complaints, appeals and misconduct, said universities must adapt to a changing environment.
“Where universities have done little to change the reality – as opposed to the optics – of their assessments, cheating will be more than ever. Learning will be less than ever,” he said.
A report from the University of NSW says the university had a 219 per cent rise in “unauthorised use” of generative AI in 2024 compared to the previous year. In 2022, there were no such reports.
At UNSW, proven cases of contract cheating decreased from 232 in 2023 to 132 the next year.
Financial reports for Chegg, a study help website that the higher education regulator alleges students use to cheat on exams and assessments, reflect this.
After a pandemic high of $US113.51 per share, today shares in the company are worth US69c.
The company sacked 45 per cent of its staff late last year and it has sued Google, saying AI summaries on the Google homepage have hurt its website traffic.
“There’s a market signal in the share price,” Dawson said.
“Chegg’s share price declines as institutions move away from online to face-to-face learning, then declines again as AI is on the rise. Its peak is during the peak of the pandemic,” he said.
Murdoch puts it more bluntly: “Chegg is dead.”
Chegg is in trouble elsewhere. The company is being sued by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency for breaching federal anti-cheating laws. Court documents filed in September reveal the university regulator is alleging Chegg US and its subsidiary, Chegg India, broke laws prohibiting academic cheating services by way of the company’s “Expert Q&A service”.
The regulator says it has uncovered five examples of Australian university assignments in areas as diverse as programming, water systems and quantum mechanics being uploaded to Chegg’s website and the company’s “experts” posting a response within days.
“It was obvious that the question was an assignment, and Chegg US and/or Chegg India, and each Expert, either knew or should have known that it may be work that a student was required to personally undertake,” TEQSA says in the Federal Court documents.
Both Chegg USA and Chegg India have denied providing an academic cheating service, the court documents show. In a statement previously provided to this masthead, Chegg said TEQSA’s claims relied on a handful of “selective and misleading examples” that did not represent its commitment to protecting academic integrity.
“The lawsuit brought by TEQSA is based on an outdated academic integrity policy, which was formulated long before the rise of AI and its profound impact on education and technology today,” a CHEGG spokesman said.
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