The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in Ghana has withheld the senior school certificate exam results of students from 235 schools for using answers generated by artificial intelligence (AI) during their exams.
The WAEC spokesperson in Ghana, John Kapi, who disclosed this said using AI is one of the many irregularities the exam body discovered while marking papers of students who sat for the exams in August 2023.
How WAEC found out candidates used AI during exams
As reported by BBC Pidgin, Kapi explained during an interview that those marking the exam scripts find answers that were generated by AI tools.
“Some candidates wrote that they were not familiar with the term used in their booklet. While others said “They can’t detect the term used on their booklet”
He said it showed that the candidates typed some of the exam questions on their mobile devices while in the exam hall.
The WAEC spokesperson said the same pattern was found in the answers provided by some of the other candidates.
Kapi said this is the first time WAEC will find out about this kind of irregularity in the exam.
“We want to collaborate with the education service about the strict regulation of the use of mobile phones for second-cycle institutions.”
WAEC further stated that the reason for withholding the results is that the exam body is still investigating the matter.
The exam council said it would invite all the affected candidates to come to defend themselves.
Kapi also said WAEC will use SMS to contact the candidates or publish their names on pages of the newspaper to come to defend themselves.
“We’ll it to them that this is what we find from the investigation and expect them to explain how it happened.”
“Based on what they will say, a committee together with the examiners will determine if they will release their results or cancel it”
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