Koreans worried about use of technology to cheat on exams

A student was caught wearing AI-equipped smart glasses during the entrance exam at Yonsei University in South Korea, heightening concerns over the use of new technologies to cheat on exams. Alongside several similar cases, education officials in the country have been prompted to tighten monitoring measures.

According to Ambassador Arjan, this student was detected a few days ago while wearing smart glasses during the mathematical analysis test of Yanse University in the west of Seoul. This exam was held for the admission of students for the 2027 academic year, and the supervisor of the session recorded it immediately after identifying the device. According to university sources, the student admitted to using smart glasses after the exam.

The importance of this event becomes more clear when we know that 14 thousand 452 candidates competed for only 288 places in the admission path based on the descriptive exam of Yanceh University; Competition that means there are about 50 applicants for each seat.

Smart glasses equipped with artificial intelligence can connect to small cameras and services such as ChatGPT and Gemini. In a manner previously seen in fraud cases, Aynak's camera captures the questions and after processing the information, the answers and step-by-step solutions are displayed on the clear lenses; In such a way that a person can see the answers in front of his eyes without the obvious use of a mobile phone.

The case of Yancey University is not the first case of cheating with smart glasses in the entrance exams of South Korean universities. On October 3rd, a candidate in Seoul University's anatomical examination was identified using this device. The authorities immediately expelled him from the meeting and banned him from participating in the entrance exams of this university for three years. This volunteer was one of 120 people who competed for five places in the course of admission to natural sciences.

Previously, cases of cheating with smart glasses were reported in the TOEIC English language test and the Korean language proficiency test. In May and June alone, three TOEIC candidates were identified using this technology. In July, the case of unauthorized use of smart glasses in the fire protection equipment engineering certification exam led to criminal prosecution.

In response to these events, the Korean Curriculum and Evaluation Institute has placed smart glasses on the list of prohibited devices for the national university entrance exam in 2027. Education officials also plan to increase the use of radio frequency detectors to identify smart glasses and ultra-small phones.

With the expansion of artificial intelligence tools and it becoming more difficult to identify new methods of cheating, the challenge of the educational system is no longer just preventing mobile phones from entering the exam session; Rather, it is about finding practical solutions to keep tests healthy against technologies that can turn everyday tools into cheating tools.