- Jennifer and Dale Harris filed a complaint in a Massachusetts court after their son’s high school punished him for using AI in a project
- The couple said the violation prevented their son from being inducted into the National Honor Society and could affect his chances of getting into his favorite colleges.
- “The disciplinary actions against the student were arbitrary and capricious, and lacked clear guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence,” their lawyer tells PEOPLE.
The parents of a Massachusetts high school student are suing the school for punishing their son for using artificial intelligence in a newspaper.
According to a complaint filed last month in Massachusetts state court and obtained by PEOPLE, parents, Jennifer and Dale Harris, alleged that Hingham High School violated their son’s civil rights and due process rights, “resulting in the imposition of profound, ongoing and serious academic consequences. arising from his use of artificial intelligence in a classroom research project.”
According to the complaint, parents said the Hingham High School Student Handbook for the 2023-2024 school year did not contain any policies or procedures regarding AI.
“At the time,” the complaint said, “the Handbook did not consider artificial intelligence and did not inform the administration, faculty, or students of the circumstances in which it might be permissibly used or whether its use would be sanctionable.” was a violation of academic integrity.” It also noted that the team project for “National History Day” did not include instructions telling students not to “use artificial intelligence.”
According to court documents citing the section in the school handbook, “Academic Integrity: Cheating and Plagiarism,” the student, identified in the complaint as “RNH,” and his parents allege that “the use of AI to present content, to edit and research an AP US History project, even though no reference is made to the use of AI in the project, is not an “act of dishonesty,” “use of unauthorized technology,” or plagiarism – “unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and its representation as one’s own work.’ ”
According to the complaint, the student and his classmate used AI “to prepare the initial draft and research for their project on Lew Alcindor, better known as [NBA legend] Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.”
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The complaint further stated that the teen, now a senior, has suffered several academic and disciplinary sanctions as a result of the academic violation, including disqualification from induction into the National Honor Society.
The complaint alleged that “at least seven other students previously admitted to the NHS who had academic integrity violations involving fraud in their names, and one of those previously admitted had used AI on a paper.”
On May 24, the teen’s parents sent a letter to Margaret Adams, who was then the superintendent of Hingham Public Schools., request instructions and materials regarding the use of AI in the teaching assignment, according to the complaint. The couple said they had not heard from the district, adding that their son and another student were given “Saturday detention” in addition to a “zero.”
In an interview with ABC affiliate WCVB, the Harrises said the school district told them their son had cheated on the history paper using AI, which the parents have denied. The couple told the outlet that Hingham High’s handbook did not mention AI prior to the incident involving their son and that it was only added this year.
“He was accused of cheating and it wasn’t cheating. There was no rule in the handbook against AI,” Jennifer told Fox affiliate WCVB.
Peter Farrell, an attorney for the couple, tells PEOPLE that the high school handbook “is intended to set clear expectations for student behavior and discipline, thereby promoting a supportive learning environment.”
“In this case, the disciplinary actions against the student were arbitrary and capricious, and lacked clear guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence,” he added.
“Since the incident that gave rise to the complaint in this case, the district has added language referencing artificial intelligence,” he continued. “This raises serious questions about civil rights and fairness, especially since other students with similar violations were not disqualified from induction into the National Honor Society. Now that university applications are due, the student is in grave danger given the discipline imposed and the unjust impact of using AI when it was not expressly prohibited by any adopted and approved policy.”
When PEOPLE contacted a spokesperson for Hingham Public Schools on Oct. 16, he said, “To respect the privacy of the student involved and due to ongoing litigation, HPS cannot provide any further details at this time.”
According to the additional court documents, the teen’s parents want their son’s social studies grade restored to a “B” and “expunged of any grade, report card, transcript or criminal record that imposes any form of academic sanction on RNH.” ”
The Harrises are also asking the school to stop preventing their son from being inducted into the National Honor Society and that he be “nominated retroactively and inducted immediately and without further delay.”
“That semester he got a C+ by one point, so our argument to the school was a good one: ‘Can’t you pass him with a 59 instead of a 53 so he can have a B-, because he’s applying to top schools, he applies to Stanford, he applies to MIT, they see a C and it goes in the trash,” Jennifer told WFXT.
Speaking to CBS affiliate WPR, Dale said “some of these penalties” cannot be reversed.
He added, “You already made him redo the paper, and you can’t undo the Saturday detention, but there are some things you can fix right now and do the right thing.”
