But it’s not just about catching a Ph.D. student out. It’s that feeling of trust being quietly eroded. Just imagine… You’ve spent time supporting them, watching them struggle, improve, try, and then suddenly there’s this polished, inauthentic piece that skips the whole process.
It’s like watching someone skip the climb after you’ve been cheering them on halfway up the mountain—coaching them through the steep bits, encouraging them when they lose footing—and then suddenly they show up at the summit in a helicopter and say, ‘Look, I made it!’ And you just think... that’s not the point.
Sigh.
It’s not even about perfection. It’s about ownership (yes, here we go again). Growth. Voice. Struggle. Seeing them wrestle with a sentence and finally get it right—that’s the real reward, for them and for us, their teachers and supervisors. (So now I’m thinking… Is it?)
When a student turns in something AI-written, it’s not just that the work isn’t theirs. It’s that they’ve opted out of the very process that matters most. And that hurts when you’ve been in their corner, trying to guide them through it with care.
I need a drink. Mr. Strickland, where are all the old-school slackers, who would own up to their laziness and not pretend to be anything else? Better make that a drink, a time machine and a very long nap.
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