{ "meta": { "exportedAt": "2026-09-22T16:49:45.095Z", "formatVersion": 2, "selection": { "q": "ai-detector", "system": "", "harm": "", "context": "", "country": "", "role": "", "relation": "contextual", "evidence": "", "year": "", "response": "lawsuit", "severity": "", "verification": "", "view": "incidents", "sort": "added" }, "totalIncidents": 1, "coverage": { "cases": 1, "countries": 1, "languages": 1, "unknownLocation": 0, "locationPending": 0, "unknownLanguage": 0, "unknownDate": 0, "lawsuits": 1, "regulatory": 0, "minors": 0, "coreRelations": 0, "contextualRelations": 1, "mixedRelations": 0, "unknownRelations": 0, "relationPending": 0, "relationUnknown": 0 }, "countingNote": "Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.", "affectedCountNote": "Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.", "source": "NOPE Incident Tracker", "url": "https://nope.net/incidents", "license": "CC BY 4.0" }, "incidents": [ { "id": "2026-newby-adelphi-ai-detector-vacated", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'In November 2024, Newby submitted a paper on Christianity and Islam'; 'Oelze gave the paper a grade of zero, according to court filings, in part because he thought it was AI-generated'; 'According to the lawsuit, Adelphi relied in part on AI detection software'; 'Turnitin's AI detector marked the essay as fully AI-written, but Newby ran it through two other detectors that said it was written by a human, court records show'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'Adelphi University says an AI detection software flagged 19-year-old Orion Newby's work and claims the paper was \"too advanced\" for the first-year student'; 'That paper earned him a zero'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "In November 2024 Newby submitted a paper on Christianity and Islam for the fall 2024 World Civilizations 1 class; the professor graded it zero in part because he thought it was AI-generated, and Adelphi, per the lawsuit, relied in part on AI-detection software — court records show Turnitin's detector marked the essay as fully AI-written while two other detectors scored it human.", "causal_attribution": "The detector results and the lawsuit's contents are attributed to court filings as carried by Newsday; the professor's suspicion is attributed to court filings and ABC7." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'University officials ordered Newby to attend a plagiarism workshop — which, while considered a \"nondisciplinary\" punishment, could have resulted in suspension or expulsion if he was found to have committed a second offense'; 'The university's denial of Newby's appeal left the family \"no choice\" but to sue'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'Adelphi told him he had to take an anti-plagiarism course, and until he did, he couldn't enroll in other classes. That's when his family sued.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "Newby was ordered to attend a plagiarism workshop — a 'nondisciplinary' punishment that could have led to suspension or expulsion on a second offense — was told he could not enroll in other classes until he complied, and his appeal was denied; the family sued in October 2025.", "causal_attribution": "Both chains independently carry the workshop order and the enrollment block (Newsday from the ruling stage, ABC7 from the filing stage)." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'state Supreme Court Judge Randy Sue Marber in Nassau County wrote on Jan. 28. The school must expunge his record, the judge ruled'; 'were \"without valid basis and devoid of reason\"'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "Inside Higher Ed's relay describes a 'federal judge' — erroneous; Judge Marber's state Supreme Court decision controls.", "relation": "contradicts", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "On 28 January 2026, New York State Supreme Court Judge Randy Sue Marber in Nassau County ruled that Adelphi's finding and its denial of his appeal were 'without valid basis and devoid of reason' and ordered the school to expunge his record.", "causal_attribution": "The ruling is documented by Newsday's report quoting the decision; the IHE forum error is recorded explicitly. The decision text itself was not fetched (Newsday's account is the inspected record)." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'treated since he was about 2 years old for learning and neurological disabilities that include language and auditory processing disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder'; 'He had worked on it with a tutor from Bridges to Adelphi, the university's $5,000-a-semester program'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'Newby has learning differences... issues specifically with language processing. At Adelphi, he's in a special program with extra support'; 'I told him I worked 15 to 20 hours with tutors'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "Newby has been treated since about age two for learning and neurological disabilities — language and auditory processing disorders and ADHD — and wrote the paper with a tutor from Bridges to Adelphi, the university's own $5,000-a-semester disability-support program, working 15-20 hours with tutors.", "causal_attribution": "The disability and support details come from his mother's and his own accounts, carried by both chains." }, { "id": "c5", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'The family has spent six figures on legal costs, she said'; Lesko passages ('bellwether example'; 'I can't tell you how many parents have reached out to us with similar issues').", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" } ], "assertion": "The family spent six figures on legal costs; attorney Mark Lesko called the ruling a 'bellwether example' and said many parents had contacted him with similar issues.", "causal_attribution": "The mother's and the attorney's accounts; the 'many parents' figure is unquantified and no other persons are counted." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "false AI-plagiarism accusation with academic and financial consequences until a court ordered expungement", "claim_id": "c2", "direction": "negative" }, { "label": "recovery: court cleared his record; he continues at Adelphi as a second-year history major", "claim_id": "c3", "direction": "positive" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://www.newsday.com/long-island/education/adelphi-university-ai-plagiarism-lawsuit-oh07enyz", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (datePublished 2026-02-09T10:00Z; 48 paragraphs).", "independence_group": "newsday" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://abc7ny.com/post/adelphi-student-long-island-sues-university-allegations-he-used-ai-write-essay/17980409/", "kind": "local_tv_news", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (datePublished 2025-10-10T20:54Z).", "independence_group": "abc7" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/02/11/adelphi-student-wins-ai-plagiarism-lawsuit", "kind": "trade_press_relaying_newsday", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (2026-02-11). Relays Newsday; its 'federal judge' phrase is erroneous — Judge Marber sits in the state Supreme Court, and the claim records the discrepancy.", "independence_group": "newsday" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "institutional_use" ], "contexts": [ "education", "justice", "accessibility" ], "unknowns": [ "The decision text was not fetched; the ruling is recorded through Newsday's account quoting the judge.", "The similarity scores Turnitin returned and the university's full decision letter are not public in the inspected sources.", "Whether Adelphi changed its AI-detection or appeals policies afterward is not reported.", "The first-person Times account (28 Aug 2026) is paywalled and was not inspected; his later reflections are therefore not claimed.", "The workshop's completion status after the ruling (moot after expungement) is not reported." ], "geography": { "basis": "Event: Adelphi University, Garden City, New York. Affected person: Newby, a student there living in Lido Beach, NY. Court: New York State Supreme Court, Nassau County.", "court_countries": [ "US" ], "event_countries": [ "US" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "US" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an institutional automated-decision case (made_decision_about / made_claim_about): a detector-driven false accusation with court-vacated sanctions. Newby and his parents spoke publicly; his disability is recorded because it is central to the case's facts (the university's own support program produced the writing process the detector misread), not as a label.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The lawsuit records that Adelphi relied in part on AI-detection software; court records show Turnitin's detector marked the essay as fully AI-written while two other detectors scored it human (Newsday). The university's process, not the tool alone, produced the sanction — recorded in the harm mechanism.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "made_decision_about", "made_claim_about" ] }, "name": "Adelphi accused Orion Newby of AI plagiarism after a detector flagged his paper; a Nassau County judge ordered the finding expunged", "summary": "Orion Newby, an Adelphi University first-year student with language and auditory processing disabilities, received a zero in November 2024 on a World Civilizations paper after the professor suspected it was AI-generated and the university relied in part on AI-detection software; he was ordered to attend a plagiarism workshop and his appeal was denied, leaving him one finding from suspension or expulsion. Newby — who had written the paper with 15-20 hours of tutor support through the university's own disability program — said the detectors flagged his citations, and two other detectors scored the paper as human. After the family sued, New York State Supreme Court Judge Randy Sue Marber in Nassau County ruled on 28 January 2026 that Adelphi's finding and its denial of his appeal were 'without valid basis and devoid of reason' and ordered his record expunged. The family spent six figures on legal costs.", "incidentDate": "2024-11-01", "incidentEndDate": "2026-01-28", "incidentKind": "bounded_series", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "single_interaction", "reportedDate": "2025-10-10", "aiSystem": "Turnitin AI-detection software (and the university's reliance on it)", "aiCompany": "Turnitin", "severity": "medium", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "educational_harm", "financial_loss", "psychological_distress" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A false AI-plagiarism finding brought a zero, a plagiarism-workshop order one step from suspension, sleepless nights, and a year-plus fight costing six figures to clear his record — despite two other detectors scoring the paper human and the writing help coming from the university's own disability program.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 1, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "One documented harmed person: Newby, the subject of the detector-driven accusation (court ruling and Newsday/ABC7 reporting). Other students mentioned by his attorney ('many parents have reached out') are unquantified and not counted.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "US", "platformType": "other", "outcomeType": "lawsuit_filed", "outcomeStatus": "resolved", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.newsday.com/long-island/education/adelphi-university-ai-plagiarism-lawsuit-oh07enyz", "primarySourceLabel": "Newsday (9 Feb 2026) — the ruling, the judge's words, the family and attorney accounts, the disability and Bridges program detail", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-15T09:31:23.493757+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "made-decision-about", "made-claim-about", "ai-detector", "turnitin", "education", "disability", "court-win", "new-york" ] } ] }