Some college students are no longer just using chatbots to answer questions - they're directing AI agents to take entire online courses for them. The software logs into learning platforms, completes quizzes, writes papers, watches lecture videos, and even poses as the student in discussion forums while the actual student scrolls on their phone or games.
The New York Times recently unpacked the trend, and it highlights a weakness in online education: professors can't rely on supervised exams and oral presentations like they can in physical classrooms. When everything happens behind a screen, an AI agent can impersonate a student across every touchpoint of a course, including class discussions where participation is graded.
AI companies are doing little to stop this. The NYT found that none of the three most popular chatbots with students - ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grammarly - would refuse to write an entire paper on a student's behalf. The companies also don't stop their models from logging into platforms like Canvas and Blackboard, and have declined educators' requests to make their models identify themselves when used there.
Perplexity, the company behind an AI web browser, told the NYT that requiring AI agents to identify themselves on learning platforms "would put the student's privacy and security at risk."
Professors left to figure it out alone
Professors say they feel powerless to stop the trend. Some universities have partnerships with AI companies that provide access to custom versions of their models, which sends a mixed message about whether AI use is allowed. Some instructors turn a blind eye to AI use, others heavily police it, and most receive no institutional guidance either way.
"Am I just interacting with bots here?" Karen Costa, who has taught online courses line courses for two decades, asked herself, according to the NYT.
Carol Sewell at the California State University system noted the same problem. "I'm not getting any guidance on how to dissuade their use," she said. "I'm getting opportunities to learn more about using it."
The California State system signed a multimillion-dollar deal with OpenAI last year.
Despite the negative effects of unchecked AI use in education, such as impaired critical thinking and memory loss, many universities remain reluctant to ban it entirely. Some institutions have tried workarounds. The University of Chicago Law School recently banned phones, tablets, and laptops in class for freshman-level courses. Princeton University dropped its century-old Honor Code tradition, which allowed students to take exams without supervision, after an AI cheating scandal.
Why this matters for education professionals
For instructors and administrators, the takeaway is that your institution's AI policy - or lack of it - now directly shapes how your students behave. If your school doesn't have a clear policy for AI use in online courses, students will assume whatever they can get away with is allowed. And if your school has an AI partnership, expect students to point to it as implicit approval, while your own department offers no guidance.
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