College professor busted 32 out of 35 students using AI on a final — after they all made the same lazy mistake
History professor Jason Gibson at Alcorn State University added an invisible instruction to include the word “Madagascar” in a final exam essay to test for AI use. Thirty‑two of the thirty‑five students inserted the word, revealing they had relied on artificial intelligence without reviewing the output. The incident highlights growing concerns about AI detection and academic integrity in higher education.
- ▪Professor Jason Gibson inserted a hidden prompt requiring the word ‘Madagascar’ in the exam essay to catch AI‑generated work.
- ▪Thirty‑two of the thirty‑five students complied with the hidden instruction, indicating they used AI without reading the results.
- ▪Gibson failed the students on that portion of the exam and noted the need for more agile academic safeguards.
- ▪The idea for the trap was inspired by TikTok videos showing similar white‑text tricks.
- ▪Students are employing tools such as humanizers and autotypers to evade AI‑detection software.
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| Original publisher | New York Post |
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| Publication time | Tue, 28 Jul 2026 16:43:12 -0400 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-07-28T20:48:33.335Z |
| Last seen | 2026-07-28T20:48:33.335Z |
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| Cluster | etBvHtCWJ8yp · 1 stories |
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Rikki Schlott Opinion College professor busted 32 out of 35 students using AI on a final — after they all made the same lazy mistake By Rikki Schlott Published July 28, 2026, 4:43 p.m. ET (function() { var overlay = document.getElementById("nyp-player-lcp-overlay"); if (!overlay) { return; } function hideOverlay() { overlay.remove(); } function afterDCL() { requestAnimationFrame(hideOverlay); } if (document.readyState === "loading") { document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", afterDCL, { once: true }); } else { afterDCL(); } })(); See more of our coverage in your search results. Add The New York Post on Google A professor snuck an extra test into his students’ final exam prompt — and revealed 32 out of his 35 students had used artificial intelligence to complete their assignment.
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