Daijiworld Media Network – Sydney

Sydney, Oct 10: Australian Catholic University (ACU) is facing severe criticism after wrongly accusing thousands of students of using artificial intelligence (AI) to cheat, relying on a controversial AI detection system.

In 2024, ACU registered nearly 6,000 cases of alleged academic misconduct across its nine campuses, with 90 per cent related to AI use. Students were notified at the end of the semester, leaving little time to respond, and were required to prove their innocence while the university relied on a single AI-generated report highlighting “problematic” text.

“It was already a stressful enough time of my life. And on top of that, I was getting emails from the academic misconduct board saying I needed to write out an explanation as to why I think this might have happened,” said Madeleine, 22, a nursing student cleared of wrongdoing only after six months.

The controversy stems from ACU’s use of Turnitin’s AI detection tool, which the company itself warns may not always be accurate. Internal ACU documents reportedly showed staff were aware of issues with the AI detector for over a year before abandoning it in March 2025 due to ineffectiveness.

The false accusations have sparked online outrage, with students and observers criticizing the university’s approach. One user questioned the credibility of universities, while others highlighted the irony of penalizing students for AI use when lecturers themselves use AI for grading. Some have suggested the possibility of legal action over reputational damage and lost earnings.

The ACU incident underscores growing concerns over the accuracy, fairness, and ethical use of AI detection tools in higher education.