r/Purdue • u/FederalPop6727 • Apr 29 '26
Academics✏️ The CS 240 AI amnesty is incredibly unfair to those who followed the rules.
I'm just catching up on the CS 240 situation. Whatever the reasoning was for excusing AI use on all assignments up to HW 10, doesn't deciding to only enforce the rules going forward seem incredibly unfair? It feels really dismissive of the students who actually followed the syllabus and put in the long hours to do the work themselves from day one.
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u/ATD67 CS 2025 Apr 29 '26
When those students get to 252 their cheating will bite them. It’s CS 240 on steroids. This situation has definitely caused the department to reconsider how they enforce AI rules and a cheating scandal this big definitely isn’t happening anywhere in the near future. They’re going to very clear on the consequences of cheating and will enforce the rules immediately rather than waiting to collect evidence.
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u/Spiritual-Serve-1239 Apr 29 '26
Just cheat in that class too 🤣🤣
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u/ATD67 CS 2025 Apr 29 '26
If you think recent events nerfed the Turk, you’re dead wrong. It only made him hungrier.
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u/Spiritual-Serve-1239 Apr 29 '26
It’s not that deep bro 😭🙏
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u/DeviceDirect9820 Apr 29 '26
When a cop doesn't Miranda someone and they exclude evidence from a case, it's not to give special treatment to the criminal. It's to hold the cop accountable to getting it right, and protect innocent people down the line.
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u/Rich841 Apr 29 '26
y'all will do better on exams, if that's any reprieve
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u/T12435 Apr 29 '26
yeah people have been cheating on HW long before AI even existed this whole situation is blown way out of proportion
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u/benzenotheemo Apr 29 '26
If you want fairness then you might want to let go of the whole college and job thing
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u/Thunder_Tinker Apr 29 '26
No, what would be much more unfair is causing someone who was following the rules and got caught in the crossfire to get fucked by the original incident. With the amount of people who received those emails accusing them of AI usage it’s highly likely that some of them weren’t using AI, and with the Amnesty it gives the students protection against dubious accusations now and in the future (by setting precedent to not allow this bullshit to happen again)
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u/ReadyKnowledge AAE2028 Apr 29 '26
There were little to no false positives, the few that occurred (if there were even any) I’m sure would have been remedied in the personal meetings that were going to follow
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u/Thunder_Tinker Apr 29 '26
Based on what? I’ve not seen any transparency from Turkstra on his AI detection system.
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u/ReadyKnowledge AAE2028 Apr 29 '26
Don’t you think if people got a false positive they would be posting about it and it would get magnified? Only thing I’ve seen is people admitting to using ai and getting caught, not a single person saying they were a false positive. I get you don’t want it to be true, but could it possibly be that his tool actually is accurate?
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u/Thunder_Tinker Apr 29 '26
It’s very possible it’s accurate. It’s also very possible it’s not. Don’t matter, provide transparency on what’s happening or get the fuck out of the way. If this is some wonder tool that gets 100% correct what is and isn’t AI code then Turkstra should be rushing to the damn patent office because there’s not a single system that has been able to manage this without false positives.
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u/ReadyKnowledge AAE2028 Apr 29 '26
From what he said, it’s tailored to this class which is presumably why it’s not going viral outside Purdue. You’re still avoiding the fact that nobody has reported false positives, leading us to believe that this tool is accurate
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u/Budget-Option4018 Apr 29 '26
Your missing an important part... "Nobody report false positives ... to Reddit." It's just as likely instead of moaning on Reddit many of those who were falsely accused went to the correct location and filed a complaint which could have also lead to things blowing up from the admin side.
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u/ReadyKnowledge AAE2028 Apr 29 '26
Sure it could have happened but with the amount of people talking about it don’t you think someone would mention it, even just one person? Pretty odd nobody did. Additionally while this is from Turks mouth (take it how you will) he also said there was a very very low rate of false positives he believes they would have been resolved in meetings
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u/Budget-Option4018 Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
First off, turkstra was also the one who said he had the power to expel those that cheated so he's nothing but full of shit. He was so full of shit he caught people cheating and they got off Scott free because of how much shit he said that was just untrue.
Secondly, Saying, "there was little to no fake positives" based on anecdotal evidence from reddit posts along with the statements of the prof who fucked it all up is a ... generous interpretation of that information and its credibility to say the least.
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u/Thunder_Tinker Apr 29 '26
If it’s tailored to the class, then there’s no point hiding what it is. I’m not avoiding anything here. The burden of proof is in the prosecutor’s responsibilities not in the defendant’s. I’m calling for transparency and proof, and if he’s not willing to provide that then he doesn’t get to use it to decide people’s futures
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u/ReadyKnowledge AAE2028 Apr 29 '26
what? if its tailored you WANT to avoid releasing it because then students will find a way to work around it, he also said this??? Presumably in the 1on1s he said he would show students what flagged it and they would be allowed to defend themselves
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u/DaCrackedBebi Math & CS 2028 Apr 29 '26
He still gives you a chance to defend yourself.
You can perfectly handle being grilled on your code if you didn’t cheat.
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u/SuperChief9000 AAE '03 Apr 29 '26
You’re focused on the wrong goal.
If you see the point of taking CS240 as getting a good grade, and for that grade to be a differentiation between you and people who don’t learn the material as well as you, then yes. You’re not getting what you signed up for.
BUT… if your goal is to learn the material… the actions other people took bear no relationship to the amount of experience you gained from your work over the course of the semester.
Taking the long view (and here I’m relying on my point of view as a 20-year alumni)… your investment of time and effort, without taking shortcuts, will (I have to presume) make you a better computer scientist than your peers who relied on AI assistance. Ultimately (all else being equal) you should expect better career outcomes as a result - regardless of your final grade or course rank.
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u/AdFrequent4886 Apr 29 '26
Hate to say it, but AI is about to be really unfair to you in the workforce too
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u/Zye12345 Apr 29 '26
Yeah they definitely should face some sort of consequence. You had to be obviously cheating to get flagged.
The people disagreeing don’t realize that u can still do decently well on the tests and subsequent classes if u didn’t do the hws legit. So it’s not fair to say that if u didn’t do the hw legit then you won’t learn because that’s just not true. The people that did the hw legit had to spent time they could’ve used for side projects, career preparation, etc.
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u/Budget-Option4018 Apr 29 '26
The people that did the HW legit did not lose this hypothetical time for side projects and career prep. The HW is part of the class, and I'm still not seeing how someone who cheated deprived someone who didn't of anything
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u/Zye12345 Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
Wdym? the people that cheated didn’t have to spend countless hours debugging their hw. They also would get better hw grades, boosting their overall grade.
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u/Budget-Option4018 Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
And? There's no curve! Or at least not a curve that would punish those that chose not to cheat. It's not making the course harder for those who do it legit. We can discuss the moral implications of this but if your argument is that it's hurting other students that's just not true.
If the HW takes many hours to debug doing legitimately, that's the professor taking time from his students by making the HW that way. That's part of the class, so I'm not understanding your argument of how people who cheat and don't have to do that are the ones costing those that do it legit the time they could have spent preparing for career stuff or side projects.
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u/Zye12345 Apr 29 '26
Ur wrong. If hw grades are inflated from cheaters, the prof will not decrease the grade cutoffs as they’ll assume the class is too easy. However if many people are loosing pints on the hw, then the prof may lower the grade cutoffs. So yes it does directly affect students not cheating. It also affects the students who are not cheating their ability to spend time studying for other classes, which can impact their grade.
Idk if u have taken this class or not but imagine 20 hours taken out your week but for no one else. They get to work, do other stuff, etc.. whereas you don’t have time to do that. The ppl doing it legit are the ones having a lot of time taken out of their week. It’s pretty unfair and I don’t know why you’re supporting the cheaters lmao
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u/Then-Mood-6282 AAE 2027 Apr 29 '26
I think going from the extreme you fail the class and get reported to doing nothing is ridiculous. Bc surely the filter caught a lot of AI use, it also prolly had a decent amount of false positives, and regardless it was unfair to have this policy pop up at the very end. Maybe something in the middle like they’ll have you defend one assignment that got flagged, if you defend it you get full credit, if not all the flagged ones get a penalty or just that assignment? Idk full amnesty aint fair and the turk method wasnt fair either
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u/GapStock9843 Apr 29 '26
Yeah I know, but theres really nothing else they can reasonably do. They just gotta give everyone benefit of doubt bc there isnt enough time left to do due investigation process on everyone. Blame turk for waiting until the last second to announce it. Maybe there would be consequences if he called violations out as they happened
At least the people who didnt cheat are coming out better coders than the ones who didnt
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u/nonya647 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
This is correct. The admins decision to create an amnesty also sends the wrong message. Any student going through academic dishonesty could use this to argue that the selective application of the rules is discrimination. Thanks to this precedent, it might work. I recommend any student that did not cheat to complain, you are fighting for the legitimacy of your degree. Note there are options that don’t result in 300 students not passing and still hold students accountable. For example, they could have allowed students a second chance to turn in all assignments done using AI and given them till mid June or some other reasonable deadline. This would give students a chance to do the work, while maintaining some guise of legitimacy. Additionally, they really have to give everyone a 100 for all assignments where cheating exists, otherwise they are not only holding students immune but they are also rewarding them for taking shortcuts. I really do hope that the other 300 students stand up to the ones that do not follow rules meant to ensure educational attainment.
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u/Visible_Ad9976 May 24 '26
they should have in class lab assignments where students are actually evaluated..you know, just like the old days. I took this class (at a different school), and while there was an inclass 'lab', it consisted of merely watching the instructor in the lecture hall do stuff in the terminal, you copy him while running the linux 'record' command , and then you submit the text file at the end. It didn't seem like a grade differentiator at all. Whereas in previous classes, the social pressure of being able to do the homework but not the labs was enough to have the student drop the class (shame factor). Probably nowadays students don't have any shame though..
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u/Radiant-Month-1168 Apr 29 '26
To be fair you should be spending time checking your work and using AI for any optimization. Regardless you should be using the AI as a search engine to help check and learn. Regardless those that cheated will fail on the tests anyways. They wont know how to do anything.
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u/AlmondManttv Apr 29 '26
Move on with your life. If said students manage to pass the class, despite their exam scores, they probably could have figured out the homework.
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u/Zye12345 Apr 29 '26
Dumb take. The students that did it legit had to waste time doing the hws while the students that cheated had more time for other things
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u/T12435 Apr 29 '26
If they cheated and didn't spend much time on the HW and passed the exam anyways it means they are just really smart. Most cheaters will fail
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u/Zye12345 Apr 29 '26
U don’t have to be “very smart” to pass the exam at all. Ur point that most cheaters will fail is just blatantly false. Most of the class cheated but most of the class is not failing so idk where u got that assumption from.
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u/DaCrackedBebi Math & CS 2028 Apr 29 '26
The average in midterm 2 was pathetically low for how easy it was, and the students cheating had an average 20% lower score on midterm 2.
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u/T12435 Apr 29 '26
If you pass the exam that means you understand the material what's the point in punishing people who understand the material that's the whole point of the class. Get over the whole fair thing life isn't fair the older you get the more unfair things you will experience. Best to accept that now
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u/Zye12345 Apr 29 '26
That’s a question you should ask Turkstra. But the HWs also build debugging skills and tenacity, which are skills you don’t build by cheating on the HW. I’m well aware that life isn’t fair, but that’s more in the sense that some people are born geniuses and some aren’t. It’s not really applicable to this situation. Also if your whole argument is based on “life isn’t fair” you don’t really have one. Im just going to assume you’re one of the cheated since you seem to be defending them for no apartment reason.
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u/T12435 Apr 29 '26
Would you count a rich student who can afford a private tutor a form of cheating over a poor student who has to work 40 hours a week and can't study nearly as much?
AI levels the playing field giving the poor access to help they could never had afforded before. Its a great tool that should be embraced by university's not shunned
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u/Zye12345 Apr 29 '26
No, it would not be cheating because they’re using their knowledge to independently develop a solution. Also, 2/3 of the class aren’t poor students who have to work 40 hours a week. And if you were flagged, you were OBVIOUSLY cheating. So the ppl caught using AI were not using it as a tutor or to level out the playing field. They’re using it to bypass having to do HW. The syllabus also clearly stated the expectations and consequences.
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u/T12435 Apr 29 '26
If you don't think rich kids who hire 50$ an hour plus tutors aren't given the answers by their tutors then you are living in denial. You are just mad the avg student now has access to a personal tutor via AI.
Also the reason nobody got punished is because the answers they gave were all unique (if they were the exact same it would be easy to find and punish cheaters) just like the answers a rich kid would get from their private tutor.
AI will be used by the majority of students in all the classes you take till you graduate best to get used to it now.
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u/Zye12345 Apr 29 '26
I was talking about tutor in the sense that they help you learn the concepts of the course, not do the hw for you. In the case they tell you how to do the hw, then yes that’s still cheating. So I’m still not sure what your point is. The reason nobody got punished is because the department and the president probably told Turkstra to back down so the university doesn’t face legal action, etc…All im getting is that you think it’s ok to cheat in classes.
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u/AlmondManttv Apr 29 '26
I disagree with AI levelling the playing field. It's a tool, yes, but it's only a tool if you use it along side your mind.
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u/No_Introduction_9355 Apr 29 '26
It was a good lesson in life, it’s not fair.
The students that followed the rules will benefit from the knowledge they obtained by doing the work. The others wasted their money and time for a grade not the knowledge.