Adelphi University student Orion Newby was celebrating on Monday after a court found that he did not use artificial intelligence to cheat on a paper.
Newby was able to prove it was all his work, assisted by school tutors.
Vindication for Orion Newby
When his parents, Candace and Hunter Newby, learned a second alleged offense against their son could mean expulsion, they hired a lawyer, and, four months after CBS News New York first reported on the controversial case, they won. A state Supreme Court judge reversed disciplinary measures against Orion and ruled the school must expunge his record.
“A group made a decision arbitrarily and unilaterally about the use of a new technology that no one quite fully understands,” Hunter Newby said.
Orion Newby
CBS News New York
An Adelphi professor used an app meant to call out AI-generated writing. Although Orion Newby explained he got help from tutors with Adelphi’s Bridges program, who assist students like him who have learning and neurological disorders, his professor reviewed his paper and Orion received a zero. The work was deemed fraudulent.
“I felt shocked. I felt like that was it. I felt like my life was over,” Newby said Monday. “I didn’t want to be known as a plagiarist.
“I don’t think it was fair. I don’t think it was reasonable,” he added.
“Unfortunately, it required us to go to a court for him to be heard,” said Candace Newby, Orion’s mother.
“Case is groundbreaking,” attorney says
Some educators told CBS News New York AI-detection tools are not reliable enough, especially if students like Orion could face serious consequences based on their findings.
“Higher education needs to take a very careful look at this and we think the court’s opinion in the Newby case is really groundbreaking,” former U.S. attorney Mark Lesko said, referring to students getting due process.
Adelphi said in a statement, in part, “We are evaluating the court’s decision and will proceed accordingly.”
Meanwhile, Orion Newby is back on campus, he says, with a weight lifted from his shoulders.
“Now I’m a happy boy again,” he said.
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