Fields Medal winner Richard Borcherds cancels scored homework and switches to in-person exams to evaluate students
Richard Borcherds, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and a Fields Medal winner, announced that he will no longer assign scored homework and will instead evaluate students through in-person exams that prohibit the use of electronic devices, because it is difficult to tell whether homework was generated by AI. He said that average scores on online exams rose significantly, and that grading based on answer correctness would incentivize students to use AI to complete homework and penalize those who solve problems honestly. Berkeley had considered AI detection software but deemed it insufficiently reliable, and ultimately left the authority to set AI use policies to professors, requiring only that the rules be stated in the syllabus.
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Berkeley's judgment on the reliability of AI detection tools, and its approach of delegating policy-making authority to professors, can serve as a reference for universities dealing with AI cheating.
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Fields Medal Winner Abolishes Graded Homework: AI Cheating Rampant, Only In-Person Exams Count
IT Home Download the App for Exclusive Early Access October 28, 2026, 09:49:17 From Shandong Updated October 28, 2026, 10:10:54
IT Home, October 28 news: A professor at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) has announced that he will no longer assign graded homework to students, because the misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) has made such assignments meaningless.
According to an October 26 report by the New York Post, the renowned mathematician and Fields Medal winner Richard Borcherds said that it is now nearly impossible to tell whether the homework students submit was completed by themselves or generated with the help of artificial intelligence. Therefore, he now mainly assesses students' learning through in-person exams that do not allow the use of electronic devices.
IT Home noted that Borcherds said in an interview with the outlet: "Nowadays, online exams are a waste of time, because some students will directly use AI to answer the questions. I cannot tell which students used AI, but I have noticed that the average scores on online exams have risen substantially."
He also pointed out: "Grading according to whether the answers are correct gives students a huge incentive to use AI to complete their homework instead of solving the problems themselves, while also punishing students who honestly complete their homework. Spending time and money grading AI-generated answers is also a waste."
Regarding this issue, UC Berkeley had previously considered using AI detection software, but ultimately concluded that such tools are not reliable enough. Therefore, the university decided to leave the authority to set AI use policies to professors, requiring only that they clearly state the relevant rules in the course syllabus.
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