Fields Medalist Borcherds Eliminates Graded Homework: AI Cheating Rampant, Only In-Person Exams Viable

Fields Medalist and UC Berkeley professor Richard Borcherds announced he will no longer assign graded homework, instead assessing students through in-person exams that prohibit the use of electronic devices. He said online exams are now a waste of time, because some students directly use AI to answer questions, average scores on online exams have risen sharply, and it is impossible to tell who used AI. Berkeley had considered AI detection software but deemed it insufficiently reliable, ultimately leaving the authority to set AI usage policies to professors, requiring only that the rules be stated in the syllabus.