New ‘trust mark’ promises to certify ‘personally earned’ degrees

A start-up created by a former Australian chief scientist has unveiled what is claimed to be a global first initiative to guarantee the authenticity of university qualifications, amid fears that artificial intelligence is getting “out of control”.

Proudly Human has worked with the University of Tasmania (UTas) to develop a “fully auditable” academic integrity standard vouching that graduates have “personally earned” their awards.

UTas is applying the “assured assessment standard” to its new and redesigned courses, and aims for all its courses to meet the standard by the end of March.

Proudly Human will check that this is the case, through a process founder Alan Finkel likens to audits ensuring that companies’ financial accounts comply with accounting standards.

“We’ll basically say, ‘show us your course designs. Show us how you’ve mapped the courses to be consistent with the requirements in the assured assessment standard. Show us…how you’ve designed your assessments. Show us the instructions you have internally, so that academics follow these requirements.’

“[We will] do some sample assessments of some of the course designs; some of the assessment procedures. We might even interview a couple of students. It wouldn’t be many. We’d certainly interview a few of the staff.”

The process will apply to what Finkel calls “summative assessment”, where students demonstrate their mastery of the subject matter in an AI-free environment. Universities will be free to conduct other types of assessment allowing the use of AI with acknowledgement but students must pass the audited assessment stream to qualify.

The process does not undermine institutional autonomy because universities retain control of the design of their courses and assessments, Finkel says.

A researcher and entrepreneur who served as chief scientist from 2016 to 2020, Finkel initially established Proudly Human to counter the unacknowledged use of AI in the creative industries. Its role was to provide “a voluntary certification of…human creation, just like an organic food stamp”.

The Proudly Human “trust mark” has been used to verify the human origin of films, books, artworks, photographs, music and – according to The Guardian – Pope Leo’s speeches. Finkel said its applicability to university testamurs had rapidly become apparent.

“Across the…developed world, communities, regulators [and] especially employers have lost faith in the meaning of a university degree, because there are so many stories of cheating,” he said. “The assumption by employers is that everybody’s cheating and the degree is not an indication of achievement.”

He said that for students the temptation to cheat was “virtually impossible to overcome” – particularly after OpenAI this month unveiled solutions to over 300 mathematical problems that had long eluded human brains. “If you’re a really good student who doesn’t want to use AI, [you might] think…‘if I put a couple of nights into this essay, maybe I’ll get an 85 or 86’. Then it hits you that all your [classmates] are going to use AI, and they’ll get 95.”

He said the expression “AI slop” was “unfortunate” because it implied “that everything from an AI is inferior. It used to be, but it gets better every month, and whatever limitations you see today will be gone tomorrow.”

Finkel said that although organisations had released “high-level statements of principle” about the need to train students in the ethics of using AI, Proudly Human was the first to work with a university to develop an assurance mechanism that was “sufficiently connected to the on-the-ground issues”.

UTas vice-chancellor Rufus Black said the university had constructed the standard “from our own frameworks” and from approaches elsewhere, including the “two-lane” concept developed by the University of Sydney. Black said the standard was available to other institutions for adoption, testing and external referencing.

“Society needs confidence in the sector and all our qualifications, not just in individual universities,” he said.

The chief commissioner of the Australian Tertiary Education Commission, Barney Glover, said society was “grappling” with the role of AI in all walks of life – and nowhere more than higher education. “We must get on the front foot to ensure our university graduates are genuinely equipped with the skills and competencies for them to succeed in their chosen field.

“Judicious use of AI can be a valuable tool, but outsourcing your ability to think, to learn and to apply this knowledge benefits no one.”

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com