Students using “humanizer” programs to beat accusations of cheating with AI • Hacker News Board

Re: Students using “humanizer” programs to beat accusations of cheating with AI

#21

Post by randall » Sat, Jan 31, 2026, 7:29 PM UTC

xeromal wrote: post #19

HeavyStorm wrote: post #17

This ship has sailed. It's how it was with the internet. I grew up in the 90s, and teacher didn't know how to deal with the fact we no longer had to go through multiple books in the library to get the information they needed. We barely needed to write it. Now nobody expects students to not use the internet. Same here: teachers must accept that AI can and will write papers and answer questions / do homework. How you t…

I know a lot of teachers are reverting back to handwritten papers. People can generate it but at least you're doing something.

this is like irl cryptographic signatures for content lol

Re: Students using “humanizer” programs to beat accusations of cheating with AI

#22

Post by idiotsecant » Sat, Jan 31, 2026, 7:31 PM UTC

xeromal wrote: post #19

HeavyStorm wrote: post #17

This ship has sailed. It's how it was with the internet. I grew up in the 90s, and teacher didn't know how to deal with the fact we no longer had to go through multiple books in the library to get the information they needed. We barely needed to write it. Now nobody expects students to not use the internet. Same here: teachers must accept that AI can and will write papers and answer questions / do homework. How you t…

I know a lot of teachers are reverting back to handwritten papers. People can generate it but at least you're doing something.

This is just about the worst possible response it seems. It manages to probably hurt some wrists not used to long handwriting sessions, completely avoid learning how to use and attribute AI responsibly, and still probably just results in kids handwriting AI generated slop, anyway.

Re: Students using “humanizer” programs to beat accusations of cheating with AI

#23

Post by mc32 » Sat, Jan 31, 2026, 7:35 PM UTC

I get that students are using the LLM crutch -and who wouldn’t?

What I don’t get is why wouldn’t they act like an editor and add their own voice to the writing. The heavy lifting was done now you just have to polish it by hand. Is that too hard to do?

Re: Students using “humanizer” programs to beat accusations of cheating with AI

#24

Post by zkmon » Sat, Jan 31, 2026, 7:36 PM UTC

Teachers are also heavy users of AI. Entire academic business staff is using AI.

The goals of academic assessment need to change. What are they assessing and why? Knowledge retention skills? Knowledge correlations or knowledge expression skills? None of these going to be useful or required from humans. Just like the school kids are now allowed to use calculators in the exam halls.

The academic industry need to redefine their purpose. Identify the human abilities that are needed for the future that is filled with AI and devices. Teach that and assess that.

Re: Students using “humanizer” programs to beat accusations of cheating with AI

#25

Post by singpolyma3 » Sat, Jan 31, 2026, 7:36 PM UTC

idiotsecant wrote: post #22

xeromal wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a lot of teachers are reverting back to handwritten papers. People can generate it but at least you're doing something.

This is just about the worst possible response it seems. It manages to probably hurt some wrists not used to long handwriting sessions, completely avoid learning how to use and attribute AI responsibly, and still probably just results in kids handwriting AI generated slop, anyway.

While I don't think it's the right solution, it will force them to at least read what they're submitting which means some learning :)

Re: Students using “humanizer” programs to beat accusations of cheating with AI

#26

Post by smoyer » Sat, Jan 31, 2026, 7:37 PM UTC

HeavyStorm wrote: post #17

This ship has sailed. It's how it was with the internet. I grew up in the 90s, and teacher didn't know how to deal with the fact we no longer had to go through multiple books in the library to get the information they needed. We barely needed to write it. Now nobody expects students to not use the internet. Same here: teachers must accept that AI can and will write papers and answer questions / do homework. How you t…

When I was in high school, we were not allowed to use calculator for most science classes ... And certainly not for math class. I'm ten years, will you want to hire a student who is coming out of college without considerable experience and practice with AI?

Re: Students using “humanizer” programs to beat accusations of cheating with AI

#27

Post by singpolyma3 » Sat, Jan 31, 2026, 7:37 PM UTC

jurgenaut23 wrote: post #11

tgrowazay wrote: post #8

Everyone knows about emdashes, but there are so much more! Here is a wiki article with all common tell-tales of AI writing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Signs_of_AI_writing

I used em dashes heavily 15 years ago when writing my PhD thesis.

So did every author of classic literature. People who think they can spot AI writing by simple stylistic indicators alone are fooling themselves and hurting real human authors

Re: Students using “humanizer” programs to beat accusations of cheating with AI

#28

Post by BugsJustFindMe » Sat, Jan 31, 2026, 7:38 PM UTC

idiotsecant wrote: post #22

xeromal wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a lot of teachers are reverting back to handwritten papers. People can generate it but at least you're doing something.

This is just about the worst possible response it seems. It manages to probably hurt some wrists not used to long handwriting sessions, completely avoid learning how to use and attribute AI responsibly, and still probably just results in kids handwriting AI generated slop, anyway.

> It manages to probably hurt some wrists not used to long handwriting sessions

I'm sorry but, lmao. You cannot be serious.

> attribute AI

Oh no!

> still probably just results in kids handwriting AI generated slop

Not if they're doing it in person. And at least they then need to look at it.

Re: Students using “humanizer” programs to beat accusations of cheating with AI

#29

Post by AndrewKemendo » Sat, Jan 31, 2026, 7:41 PM UTC

HeavyStorm wrote: post #17

This ship has sailed. It's how it was with the internet. I grew up in the 90s, and teacher didn't know how to deal with the fact we no longer had to go through multiple books in the library to get the information they needed. We barely needed to write it. Now nobody expects students to not use the internet. Same here: teachers must accept that AI can and will write papers and answer questions / do homework. How you t…

I remember when websites couldn’t be considered valid sources for graded assignments

Re: Students using “humanizer” programs to beat accusations of cheating with AI

#30

Post by BugsJustFindMe » Sat, Jan 31, 2026, 7:43 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #23

I get that students are using the LLM crutch -and who wouldn’t? What I don’t get is why wouldn’t they act like an editor and add their own voice to the writing. The heavy lifting was done now you just have to polish it by hand. Is that too hard to do?

Humans tend to be both lazy and stupid and are always looking for ways to pass by with minimal effort. Kids aren't different just because they're in school.