Brown University Professor Exposes Massive AI Cheating Scandal After Midterm Exam Results

A Brown University professor noted unusual perfect scores on a take-home midterm exam and exposed a massive AI cheating scandal. Many students achieved top marks, which contrasted sharply with prior years. The subsequent in-person final exam saw a dramatic drop in the class average. When the exam was held in person, the class average reportedly fell from 96 to 48.

Roberto Serrano, a veteran economics professor at Brown University, has gone viral on social media after alleging that many of his students relied on ChatGPT during a take-home midterm exam. His concerns emerged after an unusually high number of students scored perfect marks. But what surprised him was that the class average collapsed when the final examination was held in person.

Why Roberto Serrano allowed students to take the exam at home

Serrano, who has taught at Brown University for 34 years, made an exception this year after students were still dealing with the emotional impact of the December 13 shooting at the university.

Keeping their mental health and trauma in mind, he allowed students in his mathematical economics course to complete their March 5 midterm from home. It was the first time in more than three decades of teaching that Serrano had permitted a take-home midterm.

The decision, however, produced results that immediately caught his attention.

Perfect scores raised Roberto Serrano's suspicions

A total of 86 students completed the take-home exam. Out of those, 40 students earned a perfect score of 100, while the overall class average reached 96.

The numbers stood out because previous years had seen class averages between 65 and 80, even though Serrano said this year's paper was actually more difficult.

As he began grading the exams, he noticed something unusual.

"Some answers contained unusual passages that coincided with results obtained after running the questions through ChatGPT," Serrano said.

Although he suspected widespread AI-assisted cheating, he chose not to cancel the midterm results. Instead, he announced that the final examination would be conducted in person.

Roberto Serrano's message to students after alleged AI cheating

After reviewing the exams, Serrano addressed his class with a blunt message about the purpose of higher education.

“If you did this, if you just press a button to ask an AI agent to do this for you, you’re showing to be completely irrelevant. So my question to you is, why are you here? Why are you at a university if you refuse to learn, you refuse to work hard, if you refuse to put in the necessary effort to develop critical thinking?”

He continued: “If all you’re doing is just pressing a button to have this machine do the work for you, then you think you need a Brown degree for that?”

His remarks have since drawn widespread attention online, with many educators calling them a warning about the growing misuse of AI in classrooms.

In-person final exam tells a very different story

When the final exam was held in person, the results were dramatically different. The class average reportedly fell from 96 to 48.

Only 59 students appeared for the exam, while 27 students dropped the course after learning the final would not be conducted remotely. Among those who withdrew, 22 students had previously scored a perfect 100 on the take-home midterm.

Additionally, 19 students failed the in-person final exam.

The sharp contrast between the two exams strengthened Serrano's concerns that artificial intelligence may have played a major role during the take-home test.

Brown University responds

Following the incident, Serrano shared the details with Brown University's Standing Committee on the Academic Code on July 8.

Brian E. Clark, Brown's Vice President for News and Strategic Campus Communications, told Business Insider that the university is following its established procedures.

"Brown treats every allegation of academic integrity with the utmost seriousness," Clark said. The university has not publicly announced the outcome of the review.

Roberto Serrano says AI is a 'tsunami'

Serrano believes the case is not limited to one university or one classroom. According to him, artificial intelligence has fundamentally changed how easily students can cheat.

"The problem with this technology is that the cost of cheating has basically gone down to zero. It's very easy for students to succumb to the temptation," he said.

He added: “I believe the arrival of AI has been like a tsunami for all of us. It’s caught everybody unprepared. But in my humble opinion, silence is the worst treatment for this problem.”

His comments reflect a growing concern among educators worldwide as universities continue searching for ways to balance AI tools with academic integrity.

Who is Roberto Serrano?

Roberto Serrano is a Spanish-American economist and currently serves as the Harrison S. Kravis University Professor of Economics at Brown University.

He earned his PhD from Harvard University and has spent more than three decades teaching and conducting research at Brown, becoming one of the institution's most respected economists.

Beyond his academic achievements, Serrano's personal journey has inspired many.

He lost his eyesight at the age of 17, but continued pursuing his education, eventually earning a doctorate from Harvard and building a distinguished academic career.

Speaking previously about his blindness, Serrano said he prefers to approach it with the same analytical mindset he teaches in economics.

"Of course it affects my life, but one shouldn’t over-dramatize. We economists, understand reality as a set of people responding to optimization problems with restrictions. I view my disease simply as one more restriction that I have to deal with, and I optimize based on that."

(With TOI inputs)