Faculty, students face growing AI challenges

Research tools can produce flawed or fictitious academic references

Nearly 80 percent of university teachers and students in China have encountered deceptive "AI hallucinations" — seemingly credible but factually flawed content generated by artificial intelligence — while more than 65 percent of students have faced academic disputes linked to AI tools, according to a new study.

The study by Beijing-based education consultancy MyCOS, which surveyed 2,971 university students and 1,073 faculty members, highlighted critical challenges in AI adoption across campuses. Data was collected online from July 8 to 21, and the findings were released on Thursday.

It found that 79.2 percent of students and 77.1 percent of faculty had experienced AI-generated content containing errors disguised as plausible information. To counter this, 57.4 percent of students and 57.2 percent of teachers said they manually verified outputs using authoritative sources.