Dartmouth provost resigns following accusations he used artificial intelligence for writing
FILE - The spire of the Baker-Berry Library stands above The Green at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., May 22, 2028. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
A top administrator at Dartmouth College has resigned after a faculty committee found he used artificial intelligence to shape his writing, including in a guest column in The Washington Post on AI cheating.
The announcement Wednesday of Provost Santiago Schnell’s departure from the Ivy League university comes as colleges across the country grapple with how to transform teaching as more assignments can be completed with AI tools.
Dartmouth touts itself as the birthplace of AI, saying the field got its start at the school in Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1956 when a small group of scientists gathered for a summer research project on the topic. A conference commemorating the 70th anniversary — titled “What Must Remain Human?” — began Thursday.
You must be a member to read this story.
Join our family of readers starting at $5 for your first month and support local, unbiased journalism.
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
Dartmouth provost resigns following accusations he used artificial intelligence for writing
FILE - The spire of the Baker-Berry Library stands above The Green at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., May 22, 2028. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
Posted
By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH
A top administrator at Dartmouth College has resigned after a faculty committee found he used artificial intelligence to shape his writing, including in a guest column in The Washington Post on AI cheating.
The announcement Wednesday of Provost Santiago Schnell’s departure from the Ivy League university comes as colleges across the country grapple with how to transform teaching as more assignments can be completed with AI tools.
Dartmouth touts itself as the birthplace of AI, saying the field got its start at the school in Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1956 when a small group of scientists gathered for a summer research project on the topic. A conference commemorating the 70th anniversary — titled “What Must Remain Human?” — began Thursday.
University President Sian Leah Beilock said in a written statement that keeping Dartmouth at the forefront of AI means “leading through an environment that is fluid and fast-changing.”
“That is why, as leaders, it is so critical that we model the transparency and human judgment that we expect from our students and scholars,” the president wrote, adding that Schnell’s departure was "his decision” and that the school wishes him well.
Schnell referred questions to his attorneys, who didn’t immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Schnell defended himself, saying at the time he used ChatGPT to "refine a few arguments” but that the column was based on his “own thinking.”
The college paper, The Dartmouth, then ran other publications from Schnell through an AI detector. Writing that predated ChatGPT’s 2022 public release was found to be human-written, but high rates of AI use were detected in his recent writing.
Schnell told the paper in an email last month that he uses AI for “language refinement, copyediting, improving clarity and organization and making writing processes more efficient.” The paper ran the statement through an AI-detector and found it was AI-written.
In a follow-up statement, Schnell told the paper that he “developed the substance and wrote a draft” of the email, then “used an AI tool to assist with language and clarity.”
An investigation ensued, and the faculty committee found that Schnell used AI to “meaningfully alter his writing” and “was not forthcoming about his AI use.”
Schnell, a Venezuelan-born mathematical biologist, previously taught and held leadership roles at the University of Notre Dame, the University of Michigan and Indiana University, according to his LinkedIn profile.
___
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here