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'No Point': UC Berkeley Math Professor Quits Grading Homework Over Student AI Use

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by Tyler Durden
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Authored by Bryan Hyde via American Greatness,

A prominent mathematician at the University of California, Berkeley has stopped grading homework for correctness due to the widespread and unavoidable use of artificial intelligence tools by students.

Breitbart reports Professor Richard Borcherds, a 1998 Fields Medal winner, has abandoned grading assignments after noticing that his students have been abusing AI to secure top scores.

Borcherds concluded that grading traditional, at-home assignments has become outmoded because AI can now solve undergraduate mathematics problems better than many students, making it nearly impossible to differentiate between a student's actual knowledge and a chatbot's output.

Borcherds told The California Post, "Student use of AI for homework is now widespread. Grading for correctness just adds a huge incentive for them to use AI for homework instead of doing it themselves, and penalizes students for honesty."

The professor has turned to giving his students credit for simply completing their work - paying no mind to whether the answers are right - and admits he knows of no better approach.

"There is no easy way to tell the difference between human and AI generated work. Occasionally one could tell it is AI because AI made a few characteristic errors, but AI has now improved so much that it rarely makes obvious mistakes," Borcherds said.

Borcherds noted that while his current completion-based homework system is "not a very good system," educators have yet to figure out a better alternative to counter the structural skills gap emerging from AI reliance, according to Inc.

In an interview with UC Berkeley's student newspaper, the Daily Californian, the professor expressed uncertainty about the future of mathematics, noting that five years ago, a mathematician appeared to be one of the safest careers from the AI boom.

Borcherds told the Daily Californian, "There have been plenty of technical breakthroughs in the past - hand weaving was put out of business by looms, and horses were put out of business by motor cars, and so on," adding, "This is the first time anything like this has happened in mathematics, though."

The shift follows concerns expressed by other UC Berkeley faculty regarding an educational crisis where high homework grades are masking a severe lack of foundational math and engineering skills when students are tested under proctored conditions.

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