AI is now a tool that’s omnipresent in our daily lives, which makes it essential to understand how to use it responsibly.
Increasingly present in the world of education and in academic work, generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude raise three major questions:
Does using ChatGPT constitute a fraudulent act?
Is it an act of plagiarism? Is ChatGPT plagiarism?
How can we use generative AI tools in an ethical and responsible way?
ChatGPT can be a very useful assistant to help students with various tasks throughout their school and university careers, for example:
solving math problems,
writing essays,
correcting spelling mistakes,
rephrasing a sentence or a text,
correcting grammatical errors and explaining the rules related to those errors.
A statistical study conducted by GoStudent in 2025 provides us with interesting figures on students’ use of ChatGPT:
16% of students use AI to write essays and assignments,
21% use it to pass their exams,
28% to improve their work.
On average, 31% of the surveyed students already use AI tools such as ChatGPT, DALL·E, Bard/Gemini, Bing Copilot, MidJourney, etc.
Today, many teachers encourage students to use ChatGPT or other generative AI tools to help them become familiar with these technologies.
The goal remains to use ChatGPT (or other AI tools) intelligently, as writing or creative assistants, to support them in complex tasks such as writing dissertations, internship reports, a PHD thesis, creating visuals, etc.
In schools, teachers are divided: the GoStudent study shows that 26% of students use artificial intelligence to pass their exams.
Artificial intelligence also makes fraud more accessible and harder to detect. As a result, the legitimacy of assessment is being called into question.
So, is using ChatGPT really plagiarism?
ChatGPT comes in different models: GPT-4, GPT-4.5, GPT-4o, etc.
Depending on the model used, ChatGPT perfanorms differently on different tasks (reformulation, calculation, writing, correction, etc.). However, the AI's style remains detectable.
Overall, ChatGPT is one of the most widely used and successful generative AIs in the world. It is particularly effective for assisting students in writing or helping teachers in correcting academic work.
The scientific community is divided between considering the use of ChatGPT as plagiarism or as a new form of academic fraud.
➡️ For us, ChatGPT cannot be considered entirely as plagiarism.
ChatGPT does not directly copy information as it finds it.
It reformulates elements, explores different sources, and compiles all the data to produce it in a new way.
The content generated by ChatGPT or any other generative AI tool is generally original.
In academic work, using ChatGPT is not dishonest in every case. Whether it qualifies as fraud depends on the context.
If your institution allows the use of ChatGPT, you can use it without it being considered cheating.
Refer to your institution’s regulations!
Let's take the specific case of student use of ChatGPT.
As a student, you can use ChatGPT ethically and responsibly to:
formulate an idea or a list of ideas for your assignment,
structure a plan or enrich it,
expand a text by correcting spelling mistakes,
Explore a specific topic by asking questions and requesting sources.
If you submit content generated 100% by ChatGPT without citing it, it will likely be considered academic fraud (or plagiarism, depending on your institution’s policy).
As with plagiarism rules, always refer to your institution’s guidelines or your teachers. If you use ChatGPT, cite it.
Artificial intelligence is just another tool, and it is important to understand its limitations, verify sources, and check for errors or incorrect information.
The use of AI needs to be framed so that it can be used correctly. A school that totally prohibits access to AI will be seen as ethical, but lagging behind other establishments.
Students will therefore be less inclined to evolve in an environment that is lagging behind on the subject of AI.
Parents and students alike remain concerned about AI and need to learn how to use it well, in order to prepare for the challenges of the 21st century.
Completely generating essays and assignment answers by copy-pasting the generated content without mentioning the use of ChatGPT.
Concrete example – Anonymous:
At a university, a professor assigns a homework task to be done at home. One student, pressed for time and late in submitting it, chooses not to complete it themselves. Instead, they use ChatGPT to generate content, which they copy-paste, slightly modifying some parts. They then put their name on it and submit the work as if it were their own.
Concrete example – IUT Nancy:
At IUT Nancy, a student was sanctioned after teachers discovered that they had used ChatGPT to produce an assignment. In response to this case, the institution decided to treat unauthorized use of ChatGPT as plagiarism. The student was not penalized and received a grade for the assignment without any further punishment.
If the use of AI is detected, the student faces several sanctions:
receiving a zero grade,
a disciplinary warning,
or even temporary or permanent exclusion, depending on the severity of the case.
Concrete example – Anonymous:
During a written exam, a student hides their mobile phone in the room. Once seated, they discreetly take a photo of the exam questions and use an AI tool to get the answers.
If the student is caught in the act, for example: a proctor sees them using their phone, it is considered clear academic fraud.
The consequences can be severe:
- Immediate termination of the exam in progress,
- A formal disciplinary report,
- A record of cheating added to the academic file,
- Temporary or permanent expulsion from the institution.
It is important to detect AI-generated content in order to maintain transparency about the tools being used.
Sometimes, teachers are able to detect the use of artificial intelligence in an assignment, often due to its lack of originality and depth.
Generative AIs tend to have a specific writing style: overuse of adjectives, systematic summaries at the end of each paragraph, and capital letters at the beginning of each word in titles (Camel Case), etc.
There are anti-plagiarism tools such as Compilatio Magister+ that can detect content potentially generated by AI.
These tools help teachers verify the authenticity of the work submitted by students, through an integrated AI detector.
Students can also ensure the originality of their work using Compilatio Studium, the plagiarism detection software and AI checker designed for students.
The use of ChatGPT in academic settings raises many questions: is chatgpt plagiarism, a new form of academic fraud, or simply an evolution of learning tools?
There’s no denying that ChatGPT is powerful and capable of producing well-structured texts, sometimes difficult to distinguish from those written by a human. It is precisely this effectiveness that makes its use problematic when it is hidden.
Through various examples of academic misconduct, it is clear that some students use ChatGPT to fully write essays, answer exam questions, or produce assignments with no personal effort, clearly falling under plagiarism or intellectual dishonesty. As a result, institutions must adapt their assessment criteria and train teachers to detect signs of AI-generated content, even though this remains a technical and pedagogical challenge.
However, using ChatGPT is not necessarily illegal or dishonest: it depends on the intention, the context, and the level of transparency. Using AI responsibly means employing it as a tool for reflection, revision, or writing support, while citing the source or acknowledging its use when required.
FAQ
Is ChatGPT plagiarism?
ChatGPT does not reproduce existing content verbatim, but its use can lead to plagiarism or cheating if sources are not properly cited or if content is used without critical analysis.
Is ChatGPT cheating?
Yes, its use can be considered cheating if it replaces personal work required by a teacher.
How to detect AI?
Teachers and institutions can use Compilatio Magister+, and students Compilatio Studium, to check the presence of AI in a text.
Go further:
ChatGPT at university: why guidance is better than banning or letting things slide – Sudouest
These teachers have decided to severely punish students using ChatGPT – Capital
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Note: This informational article was structured with the help of ChatGPT. AI-generated content was reviewed and edited to ensure accuracy and add further clarification
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