First known student at UK university caught using AI bot ChatGPT citing a book on ‘Leadership Insights for Wizards and Witches’ in an essay on leadership theories

The first student at a UK university has been caught using ChatGPT after they cited a book on ‘Leadership Insights for Wizards and Witches’ to write an essay on leadership theories.

In what is believed to be the first known case of its kind, the University of Bolton student was failed for using the AI-chatbot to cheat their way through the assessment.

It comes amid warnings that the revolutionary AI has created a cheating epidemic across higher education establishments.

As well as citing the mythical leadership book, the student also referred to a dissertation that had been written 71 years ago in 1952 and a journal article from 1957, only referring to two texts provided by the university.

The student was caught by the university’s standard and enhancement office who found the ‘essay-writer had used ChatGPT in places’ and forced the student to rewrite the essay.

The student was caught by the university’s standard and enhancement office who found the ‘essay-writer had used ChatGPT in places’

The university quickly questioned whether the bot had been used to write the essay after the student cited the Leadership Insights for Wizards and Witches: Exploring Effective Leadership Practices through Popular Culture in an essay about leadership theories 

The university outlined how it had discovered the student had used ChatGPT in an FOI published in The Tab.

The investigation found that the student’s ‘style of writing’ was different from practice sections of the essay with parts of the assessment not making sense.

It added: ‘A number of statements in section links and in the practice, section do not make sense.’

One of the red flags within the essay was the student’s reference to Aditya Simha’s book Leadership Insights for Wizards and Witches: Exploring Effective Leadership Practices through Popular Culture.

The book, which was published in May, ‘outlines various leadership styles, theories, and concepts through the imaginative lens of J.K. Rowling’s magical world’.

Since its launch, ChatGPT has worried schools and universities across the world.

The software allows users to ask any question and receive an AI-generated answer in seconds which mimics the style and syntax of a human response.

Students in America have been banned from using the software in schools and UK universities are ‘scrambling’ to review how they can detect its use.

The University of Bolton has been contacted for a statement.