{"id":762913,"date":"2026-06-27T03:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T03:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/762913\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T03:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T03:26:15","slug":"ai-glasses-are-aiding-cheating-in-exams-test-obsessed-asia-is-ground-zero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/762913\/","title":{"rendered":"AI glasses are aiding cheating in exams. Test-obsessed Asia is ground zero"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n For as long as there have been tests in schools, students have found ways to cheat, whether it is peeking over a classmate\u2019s shoulder or scribbling notes on a palm or crib sheet.\n <\/p>\n

\n But as technology evolves and pressure builds for a top grade, students are now turning to AI-powered smart glasses to get an upper hand. And in East Asia\u2019s test-obsessed societies, where a single exam could impact the trajectory of a student\u2019s future career and social status, educators are scrambling to get ahead of the problem.\n <\/p>\n

\n Twice last month, people in South Korea taking an exam to assess their English language skills – the results of which are often used to make hiring decisions – were caught using smart glasses.\n <\/p>\n

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Watch how AI glasses can be used to cheat exam papers\n <\/p>\n

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Watch how AI glasses can be used to cheat exam papers<\/p>\n

1:08<\/p>\n

\n In Taiwan, a student sitting for an entrance exam for a top medical school was discovered wearing smart glasses after proctors noticed the student staring oddly at the test, leading to an inspection that revealed the frame was emitting heat.\n <\/p>\n

\n Cheating with smart glasses is not new. But as AI-enabled wearable devices become more commonplace, affordable and s\ufeffophisticated, traditional aspects of education \u2013 from teaching to evaluation \u2013 are coming under immense pressure to evolve. More broadly, the technology also reignites debates over how to balance learning efficiency against the risk of cheating.\n <\/p>\n

\n Already, countries are stepping up inspections for test-takers.\n <\/p>\n

\n For China\u2019s grueling annual college entrance exam<\/a> earlier this month \u2013 which more than 10 million hopefuls take each year \u2013 authorities required screening of all glasses. In the United Kingdom, the head of England\u2019s exam watchdog warned earlier this month that AI glasses and smart devices like earpieces could worsen cheating<\/a> in exams.\n <\/p>\n

\n The two incidents in South Korea were the country\u2019s first reported cases of cheating with AI glasses.\n <\/p>\n

\n In response, South Korea\u2019s college entrance exam administrator told CNN it is in discussions with the Education Ministry and local education offices about measures to prevent cheating with AI glasses, which, along with all other electronic devices, are already banned from exam rooms.\n <\/p>\n

\n In Taiwan, the university where a prospective student was caught cheating is now reviewing rules and standard operating procedures for AI eyewears during examinations.\n <\/p>\n

\n But experts worry these individual cases point to a more widespread issue.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf we\u2019re seeing a few cases being reported, we\u2019re seeing a lot more cases not being reported,\u201d said Thomas Corbin, lecturer at Deakin University in Australia, who has conducted research around the usage of AI-powered glasses and other smart devices in academic assessment.\n <\/p>\n

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\n With the rapid development of AI technology, however, smart glasses are becoming slimmer, less noticeable, while integrating AI models that can operate independently with connectivity, raising concerns not only about exam integrity, but also about broader privacy risks.\n <\/p>\n

\n These wearable devices are rapidly moving away from novelty into the mainstream. US tech giant Meta launched its first AI-enabled glasses with Ray-Ban in late 2023, and has since released several new versions<\/a>. Last year alone, more than seven million pairs were sold.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWearable AI is as much of a challenge to exams as ChatGPT was to essays in 2022 and I just don\u2019t think there is any real way that we can reliably have exam practices moving forward,\u201d Corbin said.\n <\/p>\n

\n A year ago, Assistant Professor Meng Zili at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) noticed a pair of stylish glasses worn by a student during an exam he was proctoring. As a researcher working on AI glasses, the frames caught his attention.\n <\/p>\n

\n The glasses turned out to be ordinary. But the incident inspired him to test commercial AI glasses in an undergraduate level exam of an electrical engineering course.\n <\/p>\n

\n The result was striking, showing that AI glasses are a \u201cviable technology\u201d for handling exams, Meng said. By simply looking at the exam paper, the glasses could transmit questions to a connected AI large language models, which generated answers and displayed them on the lenses.\n <\/p>\n

\n The score generated with the device placed it among the top five in a class of over 100 students, significantly exceeding the average score of 72.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAfter conducting the experiment, it really raises the question of how much knowledge students actually need to memorize for exams, versus whether we should allow them to use AI during assessment, given what AI is now capable of,\u201d Meng said.\n <\/p>\n

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\n Zhang Jun, an electrical engineering professor at HKUST who co-led the project with Meng, said that with how fast technology and AI are evolving, education on the ground is finding it hard to keep up \u2013 \u201cevery teacher feels that.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe real question is how quickly we can rethink and adapt our education system \u2014 how we change the way we teach, and how we evaluate students,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n But despite being a major disruption to education, the power of AI should not be a reason to discourage its use, said Kong Siu Cheung, a professor and director of the AI and Digital Competence Education Center at the Education University of Hong Kong.\n <\/p>\n

\n Instead, the educational systems should focus on developing students\u2019 thinking capabilities and metacognition to prevent over-reliance on AI, he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe should use technology. We should use AI. We should not just say avoid it, stop using it\u2026 The bottom line is: don\u2019t outsource your thinking capability,\u201d he added.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For as long as there have been tests in schools, students have found ways to cheat, whether it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":762914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":["post-762913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}