UCLA grad brazenly shows off ChatGPT that did his assignments for him — and critics aren't happy: ‘We're so cooked'
Was it CheatGPT?
It's no secret that artificial intelligence use is becoming increasingly ubiquitous in academia.
But while most prefer to keep their AI schoolwork aids confidential, one student at the University of California, Los Angeles, brazenly boasted about employing the tech during his commencement ceremony.
The shocking moment was captured during UCLA's livestream at the Pauley Pavilion earlier this month, but videos have since been reshared to Instagram and X, where they've amassed millions of views.
3 The grad shows off the ChatGPT text he used for his final exams in front of fellow students.
Instagram/andremaimusic
In the brief clip, which was displayed on the facility's Jumbotron, Andre Mai, a computational and systems biology major, is seen holding up his laptop to show off walls of AI-generated text that he ostensibly used for his final exams.
The footage shows the undergrad proudly scrolling through the evidence of his so-called high-tech homework hacking as the rest of the graduating class of 2025 whoops and cheers in the background.
'Let's gooooo!!!!!!' he mouths while hyping up the crowd.
3 'If ChatGPT is why you graduated, ChatGPT has already taken your job,' said one critic.
Instagram/andremaimusic
The video didn't sit nearly as well with online viewers, many of whom saw it as indicative of societal decline.
'We're so cooked,' lamented one disillusioned commenter under a repost on X, while another wrote, 'Pandora's Box has been opened.'
'We're still supposed to take college degrees seriously btw,' scoffed a third.
'Our future doctors really gon have one AirPod in asking ChatGPT how to do open heart surgery,' quipped one X wit.
'If ChatGPT is why you graduated, ChatGPT has already taken your job,' theorized one poster, reiterating techsperts' concerns that AI could render effectively render human employees obsolete.
3 Academics are growing increasingly concerned over the prevalence of ChatGPT and other AI chatbots in the classroom.
AlexPhotoStock – stock.adobe.com
These fears were also echoed on Reddit. 'This is going to be the biggest problem,' fretted one poster. 'People just aren't going to learn anything anymore, instead of a tool to help you learn people are just going to think it's a magic answer box.'
However, some defenders applauded Mai for seemingly gaming the system with one X fan writing, 'Hot take ChatGPT and AI are tools that are going to be with us for good or bad for the foreseeable future.'
'So proving that they can effectively use the tools he had to achieve what was required of him is not cheating,' they added. 'It proves he will be able to provide similar results in the real world.'
Mai, who is also a DJ, addressed the viral moment in a video on Instagram, explaining, 'you guys might know me from this viral clip from graduation today. I wanna let you guys know what was actually on my computer screen.'
In the post, which was reshared by ChatGPT's official page, the tech whiz clarified that he'd used the chatbot to help with two complicated finals, one of which was due at 5pm and the other at midnight.
'I was wrapping up all the documentation that I've ever [done] for my machine learning lab,' he declared. 'I also had to use AI to summarize the key equations that I'd be using for what would essentially be the last test I'd ever take in my undergraduate career.'
Mai suggested that this wasn't cheating as he had his teachers' blessing. 'My professors have really encouraged the use of AI,' he said. 'So much so that when the jumbotron people came around, I just flipped my screen around and I had to show them what I was doing. I never could have imagined all this exciting attention.'
Mai added that he's used the tech AI in 'so many different ways as a college student,' ranging from understanding 'operating systems or computer networking' to selecting the best DJ equipment.
Nonetheless, techsperts remain concerned over the omnipresence of AI in the classroom. According to a winter survey by the Pew Research Center, approximately 26% of teen students used the AI chatbot to help them with assignments in 2024 — up from just 13% in 2023.
Unfortunately, using ChatGPT to fudge assignments could potentially make people dumber in the long run.
An alarming study by researchers with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that students who use ChatGPT to complete essays have poorer cognitive skills than those who rely on just their brain.
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