Cheating with smart glasses equipped with artificial intelligence features has been uncovered in a series of university entrance essay exams in South Korea.
Ordinary Glasses for Checks, Swapped Mid-Exam
Yonsei University said on the 13th that it caught an applicant, identified only as A, wearing smart glasses during a mathematics essay exam for science and integrated-track candidates held at 10:30 a.m. on the 10th at its Sinchon campus in Seoul's Seodaemun district.
Yonsei individually checks applicants who wear glasses before the exam to confirm they are not using smart glasses. But A wore ordinary glasses during the pre-exam check and switched to smart glasses fitted with a camera and battery after the test began, the university found.
A proctor noticed during the exam that A's glasses looked different from ordinary eyewear. The proctor reported it to the exam headquarters, and the university confiscated the glasses. A also admitted to wearing smart glasses, according to the university. Yonsei is reviewing what disciplinary action to take against A.
Earlier, on the 3rd, cheating with smart glasses was also confirmed during a natural sciences essay exam at the University of Seoul. That applicant likewise avoided detection by wearing ordinary glasses when admission tickets were checked, but a proctor spotted the smart glasses during the exam. The University of Seoul immediately removed the applicant from the exam room and barred them from taking its exams for the next three years.
Education Ministry Drafting Guidelines for CSAT Proctors
The string of cases involving smart glasses in essay exams has drawn attention to measures to prevent cheating on the College Scholastic Ability Test, Korea's national university entrance exam. Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin said at a parliamentary audit by the National Assembly's Education Committee on the 7th that penalties would be toughened for cheating involving AI glasses and similar devices.
Responding to a question from Rep. Kim Moon-soo of the Democratic Party of Korea, Choi said, "Things like smart glasses are a newly emerging threat," adding that if cheating is detected, "we plan not only to strip the candidate of eligibility for this year's CSAT but also to withhold that eligibility for another year."
Countries are tightening their responses as cases of AI glasses being misused for exam cheating emerge abroad as well. China classifies smart glasses alongside mobile phones and smartwatches as cheating devices for the gaokao, its national college entrance exam, and bars them from test sites.
Britain also prohibits candidates from bringing unauthorized electronic devices, including smart glasses as well as mobile phones and smartwatches, into exam halls for GCSE secondary school assessments and A-level university entrance qualifications. Some U.S. universities grant no exemption even for smart glasses fitted with prescription lenses. The University of Iowa listed AI glasses as a prohibited device in its online exam proctoring guidelines starting this summer term.