A student was caught wearing AI-powered smart glasses during Yonsei University's mathematics essay entrance exam in Seoul on Oct. 10, a week after a similar case at the University of Seoul.
A proctor spotted the device during the exam for natural sciences and integrated-track applicants for the 2027 academic year, which began at 10:30 a.m., and confiscated it on the spot, the Korea JoongAng Daily reported. The student admitted after the exam to having used the glasses, and the university opened an investigation.
"We thoroughly checked students' glasses before the exam, but the student appears to have swapped their regular glasses for smart glasses after receiving the test paper," a Yonsei University official said, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily.
Yonsei's essay-based admissions track for 2027 drew 14,452 applicants for 288 places, about 50 applicants per place.
The university's guidance for applicants does not name smart glasses, but Yonsei treats them as banned electronic and communication devices, a university official said, according to the Seoul Economic Daily. The university is weighing follow-up measures, including a possible criminal complaint, News1 reported.
At the University of Seoul, a proctor caught an applicant wearing smart glasses during a natural sciences essay exam on Oct. 3, SBS reported. Like the Yonsei applicant, the student had worn ordinary glasses during the pre-exam check.
The University of Seoul removed the applicant from the exam room immediately and barred them from taking its exams for three years.
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A visitor tests AI smart glasses at the Beyond Expo technology exhibition in Macau on May 29, 2026. Photo by AFP/Eduardo Leal |
Smart glasses used for cheating typically carry a tiny camera in the frame that scans exam questions and links to AI services such as ChatGPT and Gemini, which display step-by-step solutions on the lenses, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily.
Kim Yun-hwan, a cram school essay instructor who solved a question from Yonsei's 2021 essay exam while wearing smart glasses in a YouTube video posted in August, said the technology is still awkward to use for Korean language and social studies essays, the newspaper reported.
"But math and science problems have more straightforward solutions and numerical answers, which could encourage more students to cheat," he said.
Three TOEIC test-takers were caught using AI glasses in May and June, according to The Korea Herald. In June, prosecutors in Gwangju also summarily indicted a man in his 40s accused of using the devices during a fire protection engineer certification exam in May, the first legal action involving AI glasses in South Korea, the newspaper said.
The Education Ministry has asked universities in an official notice to tighten exam management, the Seoul Economic Daily reported. Proctor guidelines and training videos on AI glasses prepared for the national College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), due to be finalized this week, will also be shared with universities for their own exams.
The Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, which administers the CSAT, has listed smart glasses among items banned from test sites for this year's exam on Nov. 19.
At a parliamentary audit on Oct. 7, where a lawmaker used AI glasses to solve a CSAT English question, Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin said the ministry plans to disqualify anyone caught with the devices at the CSAT and bar them from the following year's exam as well, The Korea Herald reported. He added that deploying radio-frequency detectors at test centers would be difficult this year.