Yonsei, Korea University rush to address AI misuse amid midterm cheating scandal
Published: 11 Nov. 2025, 15:12
Updated: 11 Nov. 2025, 18:05
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- LEE TAE-HEE
- [email protected]
![A student walks by Yonsei University's main gate at the university campus in Seodaemun District, western Seoul. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/11/8069235c-ac0b-408b-b372-d3482a33bbce.jpg)
A student walks by Yonsei University's main gate at the university campus in Seodaemun District, western Seoul. [NEWS1]
Yonsei and Korea University are preparing follow-up measures after their recent AI and online cheating scandals, opening up discussions on AI ethics.
Yonsei University will soon hold an emergency meeting hosted by its Institute for AI and Social Innovation to discuss AI ethics, how future online exams will be administered and whether changes are needed for teaching methods and student evaluation in the age of AI.
According to the school, the event will be open to professors, staff and also students, though a date hasn't been decided yet.
The decision follows a large number of students in "Natural Language Processing and ChatGPT," a third-year course, being suspected of using AI tools to take their midterm exam.
As the course involved a large cohort of 600 students, the midterm was administered online on Oct. 15, with students having to record their computer screens, hands and faces during the entire exam and submit the footage.
A professor later announced that they had found signs of misconduct among many students, such as taking screenshots of test questions, looking into blind spots not captured on camera and opening multiple windows on their screens.
The professor singled out around 50 students for misconduct, with around 40 coming forward and admitting they had cheated.
Yonsei University has left it to the professor to decide how to deal with the students involved. If disciplinary action is deemed necessary, each case will be individually forwarded to the disciplinary committee.
Students at Korea University were also caught in an online cheating incident, with the course's midterm exam nullified.
The incident happened on Oct. 25 during the midterm exam for "Understanding Aging Society From a Multidisciplinary Perspective," a massive open online course with around 1,400 students enrolled. Students had shared screenshots of exam questions and discussed them with each other through a KakaoTalk open chat room, which had around 500 members.
The University College, which is in charge of operating elective courses, and the administration team are currently discussing how to prevent similar incidents from happening in the upcoming finals.
Korea University also uploaded its guidelines on AI usage, created by its Distance Learning Center, to its official website on Monday.
The guidelines are offered in Korean and English, detailing how instructors should communicate AI policies, design assignments to help students develop critical thinking and the use of AI detection tools. For students, the guidelines outline how they should maintain academic integrity, adhere to the AI policies of each course and disclose the use of AI when used.
Many university students are becoming more accustomed to using AI for assignments and course work.
According to a survey of 726 university students who have used AI, conducted by Korea Research Institute of Vocational Education & Training in August 2024, 91.7 percent said they have used AI to conduct research for their assignments and projects. With multiple answers allowed, 77.8 percent said they have used it for writing assignments and 74.1 percent said they have used it for translation.
Despite many students using AI, many universities are yet to create relevant guidelines for students.
According to the Korean Council for University Education, 77.1 percent of the total 131 surveyed universities in 2024 didn't have concrete policies or guidelines regarding the use of generative AI.
In another survey of 1,000 university students by Everytime, an online community application for students, conducted in January, 71.2 percent said they are currently using AI. Among those using AI, 66.7 percent used it to conduct research and 59 percent used it to help write documents and papers.
BY LEE TAE-HEE [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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