Parents sue Massachusetts school after son punished for using AI on paper

The parents of a Massachusetts teen are suing his high school after they say he was accused of cheating for using an artificial intelligence tool on an assignment.

The teen’s parents, Jennifer and Dale Harris, told Boston ABC affiliate WCVB that their son used AI to help research a history article, but not to write the article himself. even.

“They told us our son cheated on a paper, which is not what happened,” Jennifer Harris told WCVB.

When the student’s use of AI was discovered, he was placed in detention and his grades were negatively affected, according to the family.

In a filing in Federal Court, the family alleged the teen would “suffer irreparable harm” as a result of the incident, noting that he was “applying to elite colleges and universities given his high standing of academic and personal success.

As a result of the incident, he was barred from being inducted into the National Honor Society, according to the filing.

The filing calls for the school to “exclude any zero grades from the calculation of grades for the assigned subject” and to “immediately repair, restore, and rectify the plaintiff student’s grade in social studies to a grade of ‘B.’

It also requires that the student be “retroactively appointed and immediately inducted” into the National Honor Society.

The filing accuses the school of a lack of clarity in its rules on the use of AI, saying the school’s handbook did not “contain any established rules, policies or procedures not only for the use of AI ‘artificial intelligence, but also for what any administrator, professor or student should do when encountering its use.

A copy of the school’s handbook reviewed by ABC News states that “unauthorized use of technology, including artificial intelligence” may be considered an act of cheating or plagiarism, but does not fall further into detail on how it can or cannot be used.

The manual defines plagiarism as “the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author, including artificial intelligence, and the representation of such as one’s own work.”

A teacher who discovers cheating must “record a failing grade for that assignment for each student involved” and notify the student’s parents, according to the handbook. The teacher must also notify the assistant principal, “who will add the information to the student’s disciplinary file” and “may take other measures if he or she deems it justified,” the manual specifies.

Jennifer Harris urged the school to clarify its rules regarding the use of AI.

“I would also like them to put in place an AI policy that makes sense, that teachers understand that they can then express themselves to students,” she said.

The filing also calls for school administrators to “undertake training in the use and implementation of artificial intelligence in the classroom, schools, and educational environment from a suitably qualified third party not employed by the district” .

In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for the school district declined to comment on the matter.

“To respect the privacy of the student involved and due to ongoing litigation, (Hingham Public Schools) I am unable to provide further details at this time,” the spokesperson said.