Cited by 204Artificial Intelligence in EducationAcademic integrity and plagiarismArtificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 14 of the 14 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

The death of the short-form physics essay in the coming AI revolution

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Abstract

The latest AI language modules can produce original, high quality full short-form (300-word) Physics essays within seconds. These technologies such as ChatGPT and davinci-003 are freely available to anyone with an internet connection. In this work, we present evidence of AI generated short-form essays achieving First-Class grades on an essay writing assessment from an accredited, current university Physics module. The assessment requires students answer five open-ended questions with a short, 300-word essay each. Fifty AI answers were generated to create ten submissions that were independently marked by five separate markers. The AI generated submissions achieved an average mark of 71 ± 2 % , in strong agreement with the current module average of 71 ± 5 % . A typical AI submission would therefore most-likely be awarded a First Class, the highest classification available at UK universities. Plagiarism detection software returned a plagiarism score between 2 ± 1 % (Grammarly) and 7 ± 2 % (TurnitIn). We argue that these results indicate that current natural language processing AI represent a significant threat to the fidelity of short-form essays as an assessment method in Physics courses.

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Metadata

Authors
Yeadon, W., Inyang, O.-O., Mizouri, A., Peach, A., & Testrow, C. P.
Affiliations
Durham University (GB)
Corresponding author
Yeadon, Will
Venue
Physics Education
Published
2023-04-05
Volume
58
Issue
3
Pages
035027
ISSN
  • 0031-9120 (ISSN-L)
  • 1361-6552
OpenAlex
W4362551436
Cited by
199
References
13
Citations by year
2026: 23 · 2025: 54 · 2024: 68 · 2023: 54
FWCI
46.70
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Physics Education (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Durham Research Online (Durham University) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
  • Durham Research Online (Durham University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • arXiv (Cornell University)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Education › Artificial Intelligence in Education
  • Social Sciences › Education › Academic integrity and plagiarism
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Health Informatics › Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education
Keywords
AI-generated text, ChatGPT, physics assessment, plagiarism detection, academic integrity, natural language processing, university physics education

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