‘I don't want my education to be compromised’: College student reports lab partner to professor for using AI for group experiment proposal, because she fears cheating would jeopardize the whole group's grade and academic report

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Emma Saven
Sep 14, 2025 9:00 AM EDT

It's not like there's a famous saying that goes, "college degrees come and go, but lab partners are forever." So was it really so wrong of this student to put her education first, even if that means making her the ultimate tittle-tattle? It's sort of common decency to keep things on the hush-hush when it comes to a fellow student's cheating, a not my paper, not my problem kind of mindset.

There's definitely a time and a place for artificial intelligence within colleges, with the granted permission of course. However, if a professor has not explicitly asked you to use it, and you do so in a group project, it has the potential to make your group members slightly uncomfortable, as being caught will not only affect your grade but have a domino effect on theirs. So when this student discovered her group member used AI without permission, she panicked. For the sake of honesty and her grades, she decided to inform the professor…With this decision came both a release of anxiety and equal amounts of guilt. Was this really the best adult way to deal with an 'incompetent' group member?
 

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  • During a generation where AI can write your essay, drive you to college, and basically make your bed for you. Cheating has become so accessible, and AI has allowed it to happen. However, the debate remains: Is AI just a crippling weapon to defend laziness or a tool for utilizing a whole new, efficient way of thinking? 

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    Students experimenting in a lab
    via gettysignature

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02

    AITAH for telling the professor that my lab partner was using AI?

    My lab partner used Al for one of our group assignments (I'm in a group of four people, including her) and she used it to answer questions on an experiment
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    proposal. I panicked heavily because I have worked so hard to stay in college, I didn't think it was fair, and I don't want to risk another failure.
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    I sent her a text after the lab, saying that I was not at all okay with the use of Al, but her response was vague and included nothing but a thumbs up. She's
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    the type to not care about classes at all, complains often, leaves early, and does not help much with the work, so I was so skeptical. It hurt me because I
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    have had little support and little financial help and I have worked to the bone to be able to be in college in the first place.
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    In a moment of panic, I emailed my professor about it after I texted her and now I am realizing that maybe it wasn't a huge deal and it might not have been worth
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    potentially getting her flunked. I feel like a tattle tale who took it too personally. I just felt awful that she used it on an assignment that four other people were being
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    graded on, and if the staff had discovered it, we would have all flunked the class. Was I doing too much, especially considering I reached out to her first? Does the
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    Using ChatGpt on her computer
    via irynakhabliuk

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 11
    thumbs up technically mean the same as "yeah, I won't do it again"? Should I have not sent the email? Was this a j rk move? I don't truly trust that she won't do it again, truly based on her
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    behavior and attitude, and I do not want my education to be compromised, though I may have just gotten her in big trouble with the only reason being my distrust and severe anxiety. AITAH for this?
    via FunExplorer4422
  • 13
    Turmeric_Ping NTA. If she used Al it affects you because it's a joint project: you could get flunked too if the professor finds out some other way.
    via Turmeric_Ping
  • 14
    You're no longer in high school, you're an adult, with adult responsibilities for the society you live in: reporting someone for cheating isn't being 'a tattle tale', it's standing for ethical behaviour.
    via Turmeric_Ping
  • 15
    Capital-9 Another reason to hate group projects.
    via Capital-9
  • 16
    Chloe_Phyll NTA. The professor probably already knows that her work was Al. However, the professor may not know which member of the group submitted it. You saved yourself and the other two members of your group from being accused of cheating.
    via Chloe_Phyll
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    Student talking to her professor
    via Antoni Shkraba Studio

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 18
    Unlimitedpluto I took the heat when none of my lab partners helped with a project. I was the one who got detention and a failing grade for "copying" a classmates work - which I didn't. I even told my teacher my partners were doing nothing. They weren't punished at all!
    via Unlimitedpluto
  • 19
    In college, my classmates were amazing in our group. There were 5 of us originally and went to 3 when 2 of our classmates left. We all had specific parts to play and it worked like a well oiled machine. H | yes, I would have told the professor she was lazy and used Al. NTA, at all!
    via Unlimitedpluto
  • 20
    blu-bells It's a group assignment, so your classmates cheating impacts you if she gets caught. NTA.
    via blu-bells
  • 21
    milfloverdotorg NTA AT ALL. She would've gotten yall a flunking grade if you didn't tell your professor, plus he would've found out anyways! it was either her or you guys and tbh, we should be glad it'll just be her. + Al use in college is getting to a point and i think snitching is the right thing to do
    via milfloverdotorg
  • 22
    Enchanted GarbageBag As someone that wants to go to college but can't, I absolutely despise her. Fk privileged people who see college as just a place to socialize and skip class.
    via EnchantedGarbageBag
  • 23
    Calcifer-Fire For my first group assignment at uni I just did all of the work, the other two wouldn't even buy the book for the course and didn't understand anything. You get stuck in these kind of groups at uni for some reason. I learnt that course pretty well though, got 90% on it.
    via Calcifer-Fire
  • 24
    nytefox42 NTA, you dont need to risk failure because they were cheating. Also relying on Al for accurate information is iffy at best.
    via nytefox42

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