Seoul National University faces rising academic misconduct cases involving AI
Published: 27 Jan. 2026, 17:03
![The entrance of the Seoul National University campus is seen in southern Seoul. [SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/01/27/9bd9b33f-d664-4a24-91df-17330643de74.jpg)
The entrance of the Seoul National University campus is seen in southern Seoul. [SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY]
Seoul National University is struggling to contain cases of academic misconduct involving AI.
The university established and distributed “AI guidelines” on Jan. 1, warning that students could face disadvantages for violating academic integrity if they use AI in ways prohibited by instructors, but the measures have proved ineffective.
About half of the 36 students enrolled in the College of Natural Sciences general education course on Earth environmental change were caught using AI to cheat during the final exam on Dec. 10, 2025, according to a Seoul National University spokesperson on Monday. The instructor did not assign final exam scores.
It was later confirmed that students had also taken the online midterm exam for the same course in October with other screens open in addition to the test page. The university said the midterm scores that had already been issued were also canceled.
“After the final, I checked the midterm log records just in case and found that about half of the 36 students had other screens open during the exam,” the professor in charge of the course told the JoongAng Ilbo by phone. “I suspected they used AI, so I canceled all scores and replaced the exams with an assignment. With the current system, there’s no way to know for sure even if students take an exam using AI.”
Seoul National University is not alone. In an October 2025 midterm for a statistics lab course, about half of roughly 30 students were found to have used AI to solve problems, leading the entire class to retake the exam.
Other major universities, such as Yonsei University and Korea University, are also on alert as “AI cheating” spreads. In October 2025, Yonsei University’s midterm for a large lecture of about 600 students — “Natural Language Processing (NLP) and ChatGPT” — saw many students use AI, and they were given zero scores.
![Graduates take commemorative photos during a commencement ceremony at Korea University in Seongbuk District, Seoul, on Feb. 25, 2025. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/01/27/973a2a18-9773-49a5-b898-ebf99a738709.jpg)
Graduates take commemorative photos during a commencement ceremony at Korea University in Seongbuk District, Seoul, on Feb. 25, 2025. [YONHAP]
At Korea University, an online midterm for a general education course on “multidisciplinary understanding of an aging society” with about 1,000 students was invalidated after students were found to have fed lecture materials into AI and shared the generated answers in an open chatroom.
As AI-assisted misconduct rapidly expands, some universities are increasingly returning to in-person tests, including handwritten and oral exams.
“During the most recent finals, eight teaching assistants proctored 300 students in an exam that required them to write code by hand, and unlike assignments, it clearly showed each student’s skill level,” said a science and engineering teaching assistant at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST). “We plan to apply it again next semester,” the assistant said.
“Next semester, we will minimize take-home online exams and assignments and conduct exams in person,” said a professor at Seoul National University. “Some professors are also preparing oral exams.”
Students, however, are pushing back, calling it “a step backward.”
![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/2026/01/27/cb93a62b-a9ef-4ee1-8bb4-de4267eb7564.jpg)
A student walks by Yonsei University's main gate at the university campus in Seodaemun District, western Seoul. [NEWS1]
“These days, you’re at a disadvantage if you don’t use AI,” said Kang, 24, an undergraduate at Seoul National University. “Ever since ChatGPT came out, people pointed out the potential for cheating, but the school just sat on its hands and is only reacting now.”
“In engineering, practically everyone uses it, and it’s hard to tell people not to,” said a master’s and doctoral student at the same university, identified only as Park. “The university should provide clear guidelines distinguishing what is and isn’t allowed for exams.”
The question is whether reverting to in-person testing is a realistic prescription as universities race to expand online courses and large lectures. AI-related misconduct has emerged since 2020, but some professors say universities effectively left the problem unattended.
Seoul National University offered only four and five online courses in the first and second semesters of 2022, respectively, according to the Education Ministry’s higher education information portal. That number rose to 55 in the first semester of 2024 and 51 in the second. Yonsei University’s online courses increased from 34 in the second semester of 2022 to 321 in the second semester of 2024.
Across all universities, the total number of online courses rose about 17 percent in one year, from 19,541 in 2023 over both the first and second semesters to 22,909 in 2024. The number of large lectures with more than 80 students also rose by 2,608, from 44,948 in 2022 to 47,556 in 2024. With looser supervision in online and large classes, detecting misconduct becomes harder.
![The OpenAI logo is displayed on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen with output from ChatGPT in Boston on March 21, 2023. [AP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/01/27/eceea891-f742-4157-b7c2-d1deb36bba6f.jpg)
The OpenAI logo is displayed on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen with output from ChatGPT in Boston on March 21, 2023. [AP/YONHAP]
Of 10 total cheating cases reported at Seoul National University, Yonsei University and Korea University over the six years from 2020 to 2025, seven occurred during online exams, according to data submitted by conservative People Power Party Rep. Kim Yong-tae.
Even so, a survey conducted by the Korean Council for University Education in June 2025 of the presidents of 148 universities found that only 64 schools, or 59.6 percent, had applied or adopted an official campus policy on generative AI, such as AI guidelines.
“Universities have expanded online courses and large lectures in the name of cost and efficiency, but those formats make in-person or handwritten exams difficult,” said a professor at a university in Seoul. “Thinking you can stop students from using AI in this situation is a misconception — it’s no different from leaving misconduct unchecked.”
“It’s 100 percent right that AI should be used, but right now we’re in a kind of lawless state without proper guidelines,” said Park Joo-ho, a professor of education at Hanyang University. “Instructors need to consider teaching methods that use AI to build students’ capabilities in line with course objectives, but universities haven’t done that so far — and that’s the problem.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM CHANG-YONG, LEE GYU-RIM [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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