Professors cite a loss of trust in students and a change in attitude to cheating as key developments caused by AI
Illustration by Sage Blackwell.
On Nov. 30, 2022, OpenAI released their first publicly available model of ChatGPT, a form of generative artificial intelligence (AI) known as a “Large Language Model,” which can generate text in a human-like manner.
Shortly after ChatGPT’s release, concern spread about the program’s use in the classroom. Dr. David Medler, associate professor and chair of UVic’s psychology department at the time, reported receiving three AI-related academic integrity violations in one week, an uptick from previous years. ChatGPT’s release meant that students now had free, easy access to a tool that could write human-grade papers from a simple prompt.
In 2023, the University of Victoria assembled a working group, which developed guidelines for the use of generative AI.
A 2025 survey from the U.K.-based Higher Education Policy Institute found up to 92 per cent of students used AI in “at least one” way. OpenAI itself reported that one-third of college-aged adults in the United States use ChatGPT, and that roughly one-quarter of the messages this demographic sends to ChatGPT are schoolwork-related.
Over the past three years, it’s become clear that AI isn’t going away, and many institutions are seeking ways to make use of artificial intelligence. The Government of British Columbia, for example, released a guide for implementing AI tools in education in July 2024. Now, even institutions like the University of Victoria are branching out to include the use of AI tools in classrooms, as seen by the University’s recently announced Studiosity trial beginning this fall.
In universities, AI isn’t just changing how students complete their work — it’s also changing our classroom dynamics and culture. Relationships between professors and students are one such area being significantly impacted by generative AI. These programs have created a challenge for professors, who don’t want to assume the worst of their students, but must now grapple with the reality that students could be using generative AI to edit their papers, write entire assignments, or as a research aid.
“Professors are struggling with trying to come up with solutions for how to manage and deal with AI in the classroom… without succumbing to this suspicion, or this assumption that all the students are trying to get one past [us],” Dr. Justin Leifso, an assistant professor of political science at UVic, said.
Leifso told the Martlet that he is primarily concerned with AI use in the lower-level classes. “My biggest worry right now is the first years… a substantial amount of their high school education was done with ChatGPT in play,” said Leifso.
At the time of writing, Leifso was less concerned with upper-level and graduate students, whose work, he said, is generally too complex for ChatGPT and other forms of generative AI to handle, but acknowledges that this could change.
But not every professor’s experiences are the same. Dr. Edwin Hodge, a sessional instructor in the Department of Sociology, told the Martlet that the changes brought about by AI are prevalent in all levels of education.
“Undergraduates are under an immense amount of pressure to produce… Grad students are under that but more… The pressure is there for people to make use of this,” said Hodge.
Beyond the interpersonal dynamics between professors and students, AI is also changing the ways professors structure both assignments and entire classes. “I look at my syllabus in [POLI] 101 and think ‘what does ChatGPT jeopardize in terms of how I have approached that class in previous years?’” Leifso said.
Some professors also feel like attitudes towards cheating are changing. “I remember, back in the day… if your classmates found out that you were cheating… that was shameful. They would look at you differently,” Hodge said.
“I can sit in Mystic [Market] now… and I can hear people at tables bragging about how they just used AI to get through all their [assignments].”
The biggest change, said Leifso, is the devaluation of the research paper. Leifso told the Martlet that he has had to adjust his class syllabus to accommodate more midterms and decrease the amount of written papers submitted online, completely shifting his grading structure.
Leifso emphasized that today’s students are not inherently weaker than those of previous years. Rather, outside influences — such as AI, decreased attention spans due to smartphones, and the COVID-19 pandemic — have impacted their development of skills like academic writing in their lead-up to university.
“Writing is thinking… to go out into the world, think for yourself, look at evidence, and come up with your own conclusions and be able to support an argument. Those are important things in life, and [AI] jeopardizes our ability to help train that,” Leifso said.
