TL;DR:
My bf and I are in a uni group project where using AI is banned. One group member committed a file clearly labeled as Copilot instructions. It doesn’t prove he used AI, but strongly suggests it. We reported it to the professor but didn’t tell the rest of the group.
Me and my boyfriend recently started university, majoring in Software engineering. One of our courses has a big group assignment focusing on agile management.
We’re a group of seven people and my bf, and I, are older and the only ones with any previous experience programming and using Git. It started out a bit rough, but most learned pretty fast. Except one, “Alex”.
At first, Alex couldn’t push anything to the repo. We later realized he had accidentally tried to upload his entire system. Instead, he emailed his code to another group member. The code had misspelled variable and method names and wasn’t usable.
The following week, Alex managed to push some code by himself. At the review, though, it turned out he hadn’t pushed his final version. We spent about three hours trying to help him resolve merge issues, but he couldn’t explain what he’d done and seemed pretty uninterested in fixing it. Eventually, I told him to email me the files so we could move on.
A few days later, my boyfriend and I noticed a duplicate file in the repo. We checked the commit history to see where it came from. It was Alex. Along with the duplicate file, he had also committed a file called "copilot-instructions.md". And yes, it was exactly what it sounds like, instructions/prompt for generating code.
AI is strictly forbidden in this course.
Does it prove he used AI? No. But between the file name, the contents, and the fact that the duplicate file existed because he/the AI had renamed the original to follow naming conventions… it strongly suggests it.
Here’s where the possible asshole part comes in.
We didn’t tell the rest of the group. They all seem pretty friendly, and if this turned out to be nothing, we didn’t want to cause drama. So instead, we reported it to the professor.
Should we have talked to the group first? Maybe. But if the professor doesn’t think it’s a big deal, then we can pretend it never happened.
Now we’re just… waiting. No idea what will happen. Maybe nothing. Maybe it blows up. There’s also a very real chance the rest of the group will hate us if/when they find out.
Do I feel bad? Kind of.
Do I regret reporting it? No. If you’re going to cheat, don’t be stupid about it.
So… AITA/WIBTA for reporting this without telling the rest of the group first?
I don’t think ur an asshole but I personally wouldn’t have made it my business. His grade and learning is not my business. It’s annoying when they hold back a group but at that point I would’ve just taken it and said good riddance for the next project. However if this is a situation where u could’ve turned it in and the teacher could tell it was ai and u could all end up in ass water id def make it my business.
I agree, I personally don’t care if you use AI. But this is a group assignment, where me and the rest of the team can get in trouble, fail the course or be suspended.
Oof good decision. Nah ur definitely in the right and im glad u didn’t look past it and fuck up ur grade smh
NTA. Your responsibility is to tell the professor, which you’ve done. Telling the rest of the group won’t change the fact that he has probably cheated. And you’re right, if he hasn’t, then you would be tarnishing his reputation among his peers without good reason. (I mean, his reputation might not be great anyway, given the standard of his work, but this would be tarnishing it in a different way, you know)
Thank you for your opinion. I hope the others see it that way if/when they find out.
If he did cheat and they find out, ask them how they will feel when Alex graduates with them thanks to his cheating while they busted their backside off. And when he will get a job they might have gotten.
It isn’t only about cheating.
NTA
First, all cheaters deserve to be reported. If they cannot pass that class on their own merit, they should not pass the class. Unqualified people receiving degrees by cheating and using them to get jobs can lead to a lot of suffering if they end up in a career where their incompetence and ignorance impacts others. There have been coding errors that have killed people, such as the radiotherapy machine that overexposed patients and gave them worse cancer.
Second, it is a group project. You do not want the teacher associating your name with cheating.
NTA. I have no problems with people using AI as a tool to help the in their education journey, but they still have to put the work in.
I do not like when AI is used to do all the work for them because they don’t know how/are too lazy to do the work.
Your Prof said no AI so in this case I don’t see what the problem is. It sounds like Alex isn’t cut out for programming.