In 2023, some applicants took the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE), and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has revealed how it found out that they were using artificial intelligence (AI) as a cheating method.
File image: Examining candidates (unrelated to the story)
When WAEC released its provisional results on Monday, it revealed cases of malpractice and took action, including rescinding the results of students who were implicated and withholding results.
In response to questions regarding how the examination body discovered these violations—especially the usage of AI—WAEC's Head of Public Affairs, John Kapi, offered some explanations in an interview that aired on Citi FM's Eyewitness News.
He clarified that they used unusual responses to identify candidates who depended on AI-generated responses. In one case, the AI responded to a candidate by saying, "I'm not familiar with the term you have used." The candidate then copied and pasted this exact response into the answer booklet. In a similar circumstance, another candidate typed, "I cannot detect the term you have used."According to Kapi, these incidents were unmistakable signs that AI was being used.
He admitted that cheating techniques were changing and related stories of previous tests that included cell phones, pictures, and pre-worked answer papers. But the emergence of AI as a means of deception presents a fresh and significant obstacle. In order to tackle this issue, WAEC is organizing joint initiatives with the Ghana Education Service (GES) to implement strict guidelines on the use of mobile phones in second-cycle educational institutions.
"We kept an eye on every rogue website that posted the questions we had posted. All of the questions that were discovered online were posted after the test started, according to our investigations and certain complaints we received from national security. According to Kapi, "there is a suspicion that these questions were posted after supervisors, invigilators, or even candidates took pictures and posted them online asking for help," as reported by civicnewsroom.com.
Regarding continuing investigations concerning the use of cellphones, artificial intelligence, or intercepted inquiries, Kapi stated that his team is aggressively investigating the situation and that those who may have committed wrongdoing would be invited to a fair trial.
The partnership with the GES seeks to impose more stringent regulations and deter the use of cutting-edge technologies to obtain unfair advantages in academic evaluations.
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