BOSTON — The parents of a Massachusetts high school student argued in federal court in Boston on Tuesday that their son was unfairly punished for using artificial intelligence while researching a history project, harming his prospects for admission to an elite university.
Attorneys for the couple say the lawsuit points to larger, unaddressed questions about the role of AI in schools. A federal judge did not immediately rule on Tuesday. The parents initially filed the case in state court, but the defendants moved the case to federal court, an attorney for the parents said.
During one of his honors courses, Dale and Jennifer Harris said their son was paired with another student and chose to write a paper about basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as part of an assignment about a famous person also known for his civil rights activities.
At the time, the student’s teacher, Susan Petrie, did not prohibit the use of AI to prepare and research for the project, the lawsuit said.
Despite this, when Petrie discovered the students’ use of AI as part of their research, the Harrises say their son received a low grade and was required to attend a Saturday detention session, which kept him out of the National Honor Society and his university harmed. prospects.
Hingham School Committee Chairwoman Nancy Correnti, who was also named in the lawsuit, said in an email that “out of respect for the student’s privacy and due to the ongoing legal proceedings, we cannot comment publicly on this matter . matter of the times.”
An attorney representing Petrie did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
“The matter is now in court,” Peter Farrell, a lawyer representing the parents, said after the hearing. “We will let the court process proceed.”
In a lawsuit, school officials defended their actions and said the lawsuit does not address more serious disciplinary action, such as expulsion or even suspension.
He “received relatively mild and measured discipline for a serious infraction, unauthorized use of artificial intelligence on a project and, just as importantly, failure to disclose his use of AI. In short, he deceived himself and other students, and he committed plagiarism.” the defendants said in the filing.
Petrie discovered the use of AI when she conducted spot checks on the students’ work, relying in part on a website designed to flag AI-generated copy, which she found in some endnotes, according to the lawsuit.
The paper was never completed after the teacher discovered the use of AI. The high school student received a zero and was allowed to start over. He got a D on the second attempt.
The lawsuit, which states that the use of AI is not specifically prohibited by the school, asks that the student’s Social Studies grade be restored to a B. It also asks the court to expunge any discipline transcript.
The lawsuit alleges that the teacher’s actions “violated their minor son’s civil rights and right to equal educational opportunity by denying him procedural and substantive due process.” The colleges the student was interested in, including Stanford University, do not consider applicants with a history of disciplinary violations, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also alleged that the school’s student handbook contained no policy regarding AI.
The lawsuit asks the court to prevent the defendants from considering the use of artificial intelligence as cheating. It also asks the court to order school officials to continue excluding the student from induction into the National Honor Society.
Farrell said AI-generated content is not the product of another human and cannot be classified as plagiarism.
“Instead, it represents an evolving partnership between human creativity and machine assistance, a relationship that society must grapple with as AI continues to integrate into educational environments,” he said in a statement.
“There is a lot of debate right now about the appropriate role of AI in public schools, and unfortunately this student is in the middle of this transition,” Farrell added.
