In shocking incident, ChatGPT used to cheat in government exams through Bluetooth earbuds

OpenAI’s generative AI model ChatGPT was used to cheat in Telangana State Public Service Commission exams, an SIT report has found.

ChatGPT was used to cheat in an exam recently. (Unsplash)

ChatGPT has seen an astronomical rise in popularity in the last few months, but there have been growing concerns too. Several arguments have been made on whether ChatGPT is doing more harm than good, and tech moguls like Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt have all expressed their concerns over this rapid rise of AI. A recent case in India of ChatGPT being used for cheating during an exam, has only added to the concerns. Notably, OpenAI's ChatGPT was used to cheat in civil service exams in Telangana, India, potentially becoming one of the first instances in the country where AI has been used for cheating.

Cheating using ChatGPT

According to a report by the Times of India, a Special Investigating Team probing the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) question paper leak has revealed that the popular generative AI model ChatGPT was used to get answers for various questions. One of the accused got their hands on the question paper for the exam of Assistant Executive Engineer and Divisional Account Officer and then used ChatGPT to get the solutions and relay the answers to others via Bluetooth earbuds.

The report further states that this revelation was made after SIT officials questioned a divisional engineer with Telangana State Northern Power Distribution Company Limited in Peddapalli. The accused, Poola Ramesh, used ChatGPT to feed answers to seven other aspirants during two exams held earlier this year by accessing the leaked question paper 10 minutes after the exam. Each aspirant paid Ramesh Rs. 40 lahks to pass the exam.

Growing concerns about ChatGPT

In an interview with CNBC's David Faber, Tesla, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had expressed his concern about AI, calling it a “double-edged sword," that it could do great damage. He explained that AI may end up doing a lot of good for humanity, that it may even usher in the "age of abundance", but there is also a chance that it may cause massive damage. Musk said, "And there's some chance that it goes wrong and destroys humanity. Hopefully, that chance is small, but it's not zero."