Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t know how to break this to you, but cheating was always free, simple, and ubiquitous. Sure, ChatGPT wouldn’t write your paper; but your buddy who needed his math problem solved would. Or find a paper on countless sites on the Internet.
That's just not so. Most profs were in school years before the internet was ubiquitous. And asking a friend to do your work for you is simple, but far from free.
Depends on what you’re exchanging. If you’re exceptional at math (and even find it fun) and the exchange is a math problem set, that’s almost like getting paid for cheating, in a sense.
So sure; not free, but free as in beer.