Students forgetting to delete AI chat prompts from school essays
Students are turning in school papers that still contain conversational filler and wrong topics generated by AI tools because they fail to review their work before submission. This accidental oversight leaves obvious chat remnants like introductory responses in the final text, immediately exposing them to academic penalties.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Making students write all of their papers by hand using pencil and paper in class
- 2Placing hidden text prompts in assignments to catch students who copy and paste without reading
- 3Pulling students aside to ask why their papers contain identical weird or unrelated content
- 4Checking for uncharacteristic grammar, diction, and dead giveaways like pasted AI error messages
- 5Encouraging students to start a petition or protest
- 6Going directly to administration to complain
- 7Asking a tenured colleague to approach administration
- 8Pushing for rule changes to ban artificial intelligence in future contests
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“One of the seniors turned in an English paper about reducing homeliness when the paper prompt was about reducing homelessness.”source ↗
“What baffles me about this is that these kids aren't even reading what AI has put out?”source ↗
“I tried using AI as a teacher to write a sample text once. And only once because even though I reread it carefully and made edits, it still had a major error the students caught.”source ↗
“They aren't using it for “help” - they don’t care what it says, just that they’re able to outsource thought in exchange for free time”source ↗
“I’m fuming that this happened.”source ↗
“I know that many others put their skills and efforts into hand drawing the design, and I’m mortified that a homeroom teacher submitted it and that admin chose the winner.”source ↗
“I’m thinking of putting together a petition to overrule this, but I don’t know if I’m overreacting.”source ↗
“First line “Sure! Here’s a narrative about xyz and 1200 words long!” When I showed him his error, I watched the blood drain from his face”source ↗
“I have personal bandwidth to fight this; I’m just not sure if I’ll be overstepping”source ↗
“I’m an overworked teacher, and I haven’t seen even one useful AND ethical thing AI can do for me.”source ↗
“When it comes to humanities and arts being generated by AI, I take it personally.”source ↗
“My admin *loves* AI! She brags all the time about how she uploads everything to AI and has it make her PowerPoints for staff development.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 16How to deal with all the low effort AI content online
- 19Why does fixing AI mistakes take longer than doing it myself?
- 3Why am I getting falsely accused of using AI to write?
- 3Why are employees sending unedited AI-generated complaints?
- 3How to secure and support internal AI apps built by non-technical employees
- 3Why do students constantly ask for validation during independent work?