SA Universities in Crisis as AI Cheating Surges and Detection Tools Fail

A quiet crisis is erupting in South Africa’s universities — and it has little to do with fees or protests. Across campuses, a new kind of academic dishonesty is taking root: students are increasingly using AI tools like ChatGPT to write assignments, and universities are struggling to keep up.

The problem isn’t just growing. It’s already here — and widespread.

Dr Charne Lavery, Associate Professor of English at the University of Pretoria, first noticed something was off when she read through 800 second-year essays. The submissions were perfectly structured and grammatically flawless, but oddly lifeless. “These essays just sounded completely different to what we would get in the past: this bland tone with a perfect essay structure,” she recalls.

Lavery suspects up to 80% of those essays were partially or fully generated by AI — and yet, when run through Turnitin, the most commonly used plagiarism tool, they came back clean.

“The burden of proof is on the academic. And there is really no way to prove it at all,” Lavery says.

Detection Tools Are Failing

The inability to detect AI-generated writing is leaving academics powerless. Dr Carla Lever, a cultural studies lecturer in the Western Cape, says, “This cannot be overstated. Anyone who claims otherwise is a victim of hope and marketing.”

Even institutions that run AI detection tools admit they aren’t reliable. Dr Jonathan Shock, interim director of the University of Cape Town AI initiative, says the only time detection works is in small classes where lecturers intimately know their students’ writing style. In large undergraduate courses, particularly in humanities and commerce, that’s nearly impossible.

Pandemic Habits Fueling a Cultural Shift

The roots of the crisis trace back to Covid-era online schooling, when many students learned — and got away with — taking academic shortcuts. Dr Stephen Sparks, a history lecturer at the University of Johannesburg, saw the trend escalate during the pandemic.

Students began using online paraphrasing tools to dodge plagiarism detection. One now-infamous example saw a student cite “Stronghold Bunny University” — a garbled AI synonym for Fort Hare.

A philosophy lecturer, who asked to remain anonymous, says today’s undergrads never properly developed core reading and writing skills. “They never learnt the skills, and why would they now, when there is a tool for it?”

Beyond the Humanities: Long-Term Implications

The problem is not confined to essays. Aidan Bailey, a lecturer in UCT’s Computer Science department, warns of foundational gaps created by early reliance on AI tools. “A particularly crafty student might even get the degree,” he admits, “but lack the skills needed in the real world.”

Shockingly, Bailey has heard of IT professionals using ChatGPT to do their jobs — even when handling sensitive company data.

This phenomenon has far-reaching consequences for the future workforce, with companies now grappling with the challenge of hiring graduates who’ve relied too heavily on AI during their studies.

Universities in Denial?

Despite mounting evidence, some universities seem hesitant to publicly acknowledge the scale of the problem. A Daily Maverick investigation found patchy policies and a lack of coordinated institutional response. Most universities rely heavily on detection tools like Turnitin, despite knowing their limitations.

What’s more, many academics are calling for a complete rethink of assessment methods — from reintroducing oral exams to in-person essay writing — to restore academic integrity in a digital age.

“We need to stop pretending we’re dealing with the same students we were before 2020,” says one lecturer. “They’re living in a different world — and we need new tools, not just new rules.”

As AI continues to evolve, so too must education. The AI cheating crisis in South African universities is not just an academic issue — it’s a warning signal about the future of learning, integrity, and trust in qualifications.

Unless institutions move beyond denial and rethink how they teach and assess, a generation of graduates may leave university with degrees built on sand.

{Source: Daily Maverick}

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