Multiple Purported AI-Assisted Cheating Incidents Reported Across South Korea's SKY Universities During October 2025 Midterms

Reports from South Korea's SKY universities indicate multiple AI-assisted cheating incidents during the October 2025 midterms. At Yonsei, dozens reportedly used ChatGPT and other tools despite bans in an Oct. 15 online exam. Korea University and Seoul National reportedly found students using AI or sharing answers via group chats, prompting punitive sanctions across the institutions.

Risk classification

• Primary risk domain: 4 Malicious actors
• Primary risk subdomain: 4.3 Fraud, scams, and targeted manipulation

Students used ChatGPT to cheat on university exams to gain an unfair academic advantage, which directly aligns with AI-facilitated plagiarism and cheating under sub-domain 4.3.

Causal factors

• Entity: Human
• Intent: Intentional
• Timing: Post-deployment

The incident was caused by students intentionally choosing to use ChatGPT to cheat on exams after the AI system was deployed.

EU AI Act risk tier

• Risk tier: 3 Limited Risk

Limited Risk: The system involved is ChatGPT, which is a chatbot and general-purpose AI, falling under Level 3 requiring transparency obligations.

AI system and alleged parties

• AI system: ChatGPT, phone app that uses A.I. (OpenAI)
• AI purpose: Writing Assistant; Question Answering
• Behaviour type: Assistant
• Alleged developer: Unnamed generative AI companies, OpenAI
• Alleged deployer: Students at Yonsei University, Students at Seoul National University, Students at Korea University
• Alleged harmed parties: Yonsei University, Students at Yonsei University, Students at Seoul National University, Students at Korea University, Seoul National University, Korea University, General public of Korea, General public, Faculty and staff at Yonsei University, Faculty and staff at Seoul National University, Faculty and staff at Korea University, Epistemic integrity, Academic integrity

Harm severity

Highest direct severity in any category: Negligible. Severity is scored from Negligible to Catastrophic in each harm category, for harm the reports describe as caused directly or indirectly by the AI system.

• Physical: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Infrastructure: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Property: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Financial: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Environmental: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Malicious content: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Differential treatment: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Civil rights: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Democracy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Privacy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Psychological: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Epistemic: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Child sexual exploitation and abuse: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible

People affected

• Occurrences reported: 3
• People reportedly exposed: 500

Potential causes

Management

• Inconsistent AI Policies: Professors held conflicting views on whether to allow or ban AI tools.
• Slow Institutional Adaptation: Colleges failed to update curriculum and testing to keep pace with AI.

Technology

• Widespread ChatGPT Availability: OpenAI's ChatGPT release made advanced AI tools easily accessible to students.
• AI-Powered Answer Sharing Apps: Students used phone apps with AI features to share test answers.

Human Factors

• Hypercompetitive Academic Culture: Intense pressure to succeed at elite SKY universities drove students to cheat.
• Breach of Trust and Ethics: Students violated explicit agreements with professors not to use AI tools.
• Peer Collaboration to Cheat: Students active in group chats shared screens and answers during exams.

Process and Methods

• Vulnerable Online Exam Format: Administering exams online created opportunities for unmonitored AI usage.
• Outdated Assessment Methods: Testing focused on information recall which is easily replicated by AI.
• Inadequate Proctoring Methods: Laptop cameras and basic proctoring failed to detect real-time AI usage.

Regulatory Environment

• Unenforceable AI Guidelines: University guidelines exist but lack effective mechanisms for enforcement.

Information quality

• Classification confidence: High
• Reason for confidence: The report clearly details the events, the universities involved, the AI tool used (ChatGPT), and the consequences (failing grades, exam retakes). There is little ambiguity about what transpired.
• Ambiguities identified: The exact number of cheating students at Seoul National University and Korea University is not specified beyond 'several' or 'students'.

Students at elite South Korean universities used ChatGPT to cheat on midterm exams. While highlighting ongoing challenges in academic integrity and educational policy, the incident carries negligible national security implications.

• Overall national security impact: Negligible
• Response level: Minor
• Scope: Single nation
• Primary target: South Korea
• Alleged perpetrator: Individual

Threat characteristics

• Imminence: Long-term. The incident represents an ongoing academic integrity issue rather than an active national security crisis.
• Autonomy: Human-controlled. The AI tool was used as a writing and answering assistant under direct human control to violate exam policies.
• Novelty: Established threat. Using generative AI tools like ChatGPT for academic cheating is a well-documented and established issue globally.

Impact by dimension

• Physical security: Negligible. The incident involves academic cheating and has no impact on physical systems, critical infrastructure, or human safety.
• Information security: Negligible. No intelligence assets, classified models, or state-level disinformation campaigns were involved in this academic cheating incident.
• Sovereignty: Negligible. The event was limited to university midterm exams and did not threaten state authority, elections, or core government operations.
• Economic security: Negligible. Academic cheating at universities does not represent a threat to macroeconomic stability, strategic industries, or national technological advantage.
• Societal stability: Negligible. While concerning for academic integrity, the incident does not threaten social cohesion, civil liberties, or cause civil unrest.