Australian University Wrongly Accuses Students of AI Cheating

On October 9, 2025, ABC reported that Australian Catholic University (ACU) faced controversy for wrongly accusing several students of cheating using artificial intelligence (AI) tools. The accused students stated that their assignments were entirely their own work, yet the university still flagged them with warnings or disciplinary notices. Some students even faced academic hearings.

Affected students include a nursing student who spent weeks completing her assignment herself but was still flagged due to AI detection tools misidentifying her work. The incident temporarily delayed her grades and graduation progress, causing significant stress and anxiety over potential damage to her future professional reputation in healthcare. Other science, technology, and humanities students also reported that their original work was misidentified as AI-generated, creating unnecessary psychological burdens.

The case has drawn widespread attention from academia and society, raising doubts about the reliability and methodology of AI detection tools in assessing academic integrity. Experts noted that AI detection tools carry a risk of false positives, especially when a student’s writing style resembles AI-generated content.

ACU stated that it has begun re-evaluating the cases and pledged to adopt more careful procedures to protect student rights. The university emphasized that while AI misuse in education is a concern, accusations of cheating must be based on solid evidence rather than solely on AI detection results.