Dartmouth Provost Resigns After AI Writing Controversy
Dartmouth College’s provost resigns following allegations of using AI to alter his writing, including a Washington Post column.
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Dartmouth College’s provost, Santiago Schnell, has voluntarily resigned after a faculty committee found he used artificial intelligence to meaningfully alter his writing, including a guest column in The Washington Post. President Sian Leah Beilock confirmed Schnell’s resignation, stating, ‘I expect our senior leaders to hold themselves to the highest standards. Out of respect for his colleagues and the institution, Santiago has resigned as provost and is leaving the university. This was his decision. We remain grateful for his leadership and wish him well.’
AI Use Violated Institutional Standards
The resignation followed the release of an October 27 memorandum detailing the results of a faculty-led investigation into Schnell’s writings. The memo stated that Schnell ‘used AI to meaningfully alter his writing in violation of at least one publication’s AI use and/or disclosure requirement, failed to disclose his use of AI in clear violation of a national newspaper’s stated policy, was not forthcoming about his AI use, and fell short of the standards set forth by Dartmouth’s Code of Ethical Conduct, the Academic Honor Principle, and Geisel’s Policy on Expectations for Professionalism for Faculty, Non-Faculty Academics, and Staff.’
Washington Post Column Found Fully AI-Generated
An August 9 column attributed to Schnell titled, ‘Universities are fighting AI cheating. But there’s a deeper problem,’ that appeared in the Washington Post was determined to be 100 percent AI-written, according to Semafor. Schnell told Semafor that he ‘wrote this essay based on my own thinking. Then, I used ChatGPT to refine a few arguments, check for grammatical errors, and submit it to the Washington Post,’ adding that his column ‘went through multiple rounds of edits by the Post.’
Other Writings Suspected of AI Influence
Following Semafor’s August 26 investigation, Dartmouth College’s newspaper, The Dartmouth, also reviewed Schnell’s writings from before and after November 2022, when ChatGPT was released to the public. The Dartmouth found Schnell’s works authored before 2022 were ‘100% human-written,’ while nine of his works authored this year were likely ‘96% AI-written,’ according to results from Pangram.
Background and Current Context
Schnell described himself as a ‘mathematical biologist’ on his LinkedIn page. He taught mathematics, biomedical data science, and biochemistry and cell biology at Dartmouth College. News of Schnell’s voluntary departure comes amid a three-day conference on AI being hosted at the college.
Source: Daily Caller
