By Christopher Harris

Copyright brisbanetimes

“While the university encourages the appropriate use of AI in learning, it has seen a rise in unauthorised use of generative AI in assessable work – a trend which is consistent across the education sector, in Australia and overseas,” the cheating report said.

Last year there were 530 cases of generative AI misuse, comprising 394 cases of less serious plagiarism and 136 incidents of serious plagiarism and exam misconduct – a 219 per cent increase on the 166 cases reported in 2023.

The university’s business faculty had the highest number of reported cheats, followed by engineering.

The highest concentration of substantiated cases of plagiarism and academic misconduct in 2024 was at UNSW College, which offers pathway programs for international and domestic students. There were just over 2000 students enrolled and 172 cases of plagiarism and misconduct, representing 8.3 per cent of the headcount, equating to one in every 12 students.