Now strict action has started against students who misuse Artificial Intelligence (AI) in PhD research. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has returned dozens of PhD theses of students. In these theses, material taken from AI tools was copy-pasted without using it properly.
UGC’s investigation revealed that more than 40 percent similarity was found in many theses. This is the second case in an educational institution when UGC has refused to accept a PhD thesis due to plagiarism.
What went wrong?
This matter is of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University (BRABU), Muzaffarpur. The University Grants Commission (UGC) found that PhD theses submitted by research students were prepared using ChatGPT and other AI tools. Investigation revealed that the content was directly copy-pasted. The content was neither original nor properly sited.
UGC has returned all the questionable theses and students have been instructed to rewrite them completely. To avoid such mistakes in future, use of plagiarism detection software has now been made mandatory in thesis examination.
Difference in examination of Hindi and English thesis
Teachers and sources say that copying done by AI was mostly detected in theses written in English. The reason is that anti-plagiarism software detects plagiarism in English content more accurately, whereas the detection system in Hindi is not that strong.
Teachers believe that work is going on to improve the technique of detecting plagiarism in Hindi. UGC has central data of theses across the country, through which such irregularities are being detected.
UGC’s strict stance regarding AI and PhD
UGC has already made it clear that using AI in PhD without acknowledgment will be considered as plagiarism. Although the plagiarism rules of 2018 are still in force, now AI generated content is also being brought under the same ambit.
