{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-20T07:07:23.279Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"vce","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"2025","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":0,"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":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2025-victoria-vce-exam-student-used-chatgpt-on-smuggled-phone-marks-reduced-authority-says","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'A student secretly trying to use ChatGPT in their exams before being caught by an eagle-eyed supervisor'; 'After smuggling in a smartphone to the exam, the supervisor found the student had uploaded questions to the popular chatbot and attempted to pass off the AI-generated answers as their own, the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) said on Monday.'; 'They were one of 109 students investigated for cheating during last year’s VCE exams, the authority said on Monday.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"According to the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA), during the 2025 VCE exams a student smuggled a smartphone into an exam, uploaded exam questions to ChatGPT and attempted to pass off the AI-generated answers as their own, and was caught by an exam supervisor.","causal_attribution":"The exam authority's account as reported by The Age; no other account of the incident is available."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The student found using ChatGPT on their phone admitted to the breaches and had their marks docked.'; 'Both students who were caught had their marks reduced as a result of reviews.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"According to The Age's report of the VCAA statement, the student admitted the breaches and had their examination marks reduced after a review.","causal_attribution":"The authority's account of its own decision, relayed by one outlet; the size of the reduction is not stated."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The VCAA thoroughly investigates all alleged misconduct cases and may reduce a student’s examination score if they are found to have breached examination rules'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A VCAA spokesperson said the authority investigates all alleged misconduct cases and may reduce a student's examination score if the student is found to have breached examination rules.","causal_attribution":"The authority's description of its process."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'from 87 in 2024 to 109 in 2025'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The VCAA's data show 109 students investigated for cheating in the 2025 VCE exams, up from 87 in 2024.","causal_attribution":"Context from the authority's internal data; the aggregate does not concern AI use alone and is not counted as harmed people."}],"effects":[{"label":"examination marks reduced after admitted ChatGPT use in a VCE exam (exam authority's account)","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/student-caught-using-chatgpt-in-vce-exam-among-109-investigated-for-cheating-20261019-p616s4.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-20 from the publisher's page (HTTP 200). Published 19 October 2026, 4:31pm; the article reports a statement and internal data released by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority that Monday. A syndicated Adelaide Now report on the same data returned HTTP 403 and was not read.","independence_group":"vcaa-exam-misconduct-statement-2026-10-19"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["education"],"unknowns":["The subject, school and exact date of the exam.","How many marks were deducted and whether the student appealed.","The student's exact age; The Age's standfirst calls the student a teenager, which does not establish whether the student was under 18."],"geography":{"basis":"The exam was a VCE exam administered by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority in the Australian state of Victoria, as stated in the article. The student's residence is not stated.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["AU"],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a sanction for prohibited AI use: the Victorian exam authority's account, reported by The Age, that a student used ChatGPT on a smuggled phone to answer questions in a 2025 VCE exam, admitted the breach and had marks reduced. The student, school and subject are not identified.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-20"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The VCAA said, as reported by The Age, that the student uploaded exam questions to ChatGPT on a smuggled smartphone and attempted to pass off its AI-generated answers as their own; the student admitted the breach and the authority reduced the student's marks. The student's exchange with ChatGPT is the prohibited use for which the exam authority imposed the sanction. The evidence is the authority's own account relayed by one outlet.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Victorian exam authority says student who used ChatGPT on a smuggled phone during a 2025 VCE exam admitted the breach and had marks reduced","summary":"The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) said on 19 October 2026, as reported by The Age, that during the 2025 VCE exams a student smuggled a smartphone into an exam, uploaded exam questions to ChatGPT and attempted to pass off the AI-generated answers as their own before an exam supervisor caught them. According to the authority, the student admitted the breaches and had their marks reduced after a review. The student was one of 109 students the VCAA investigated for cheating in the 2025 VCE exams, up from 87 in 2024. The report does not identify the student, the school, the subject or the size of the reduction. The account is the exam authority's, relayed by one outlet.","incidentDate":"2025-01-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"year","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-10-19","aiSystem":"ChatGPT, used on a smartphone the student had smuggled into a 2025 VCE exam to answer uploaded exam questions, according to the VCAA","aiProduct":"ChatGPT","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["educational_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, the student had their 2025 VCE examination marks reduced after admitting to using ChatGPT on a smuggled phone during the exam.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the student the VCAA says used ChatGPT during the exam and had marks reduced. The 109 students investigated for cheating in 2025 are an aggregate across all kinds of misconduct and are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"AU","platformType":"assistant","outcomeType":"internal_action","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/student-caught-using-chatgpt-in-vce-exam-among-109-investigated-for-cheating-20261019-p616s4.html","primarySourceLabel":"The Age, 19 October 2026: Student caught using ChatGPT in VCE exam among 109 investigated for cheating","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-20T02:59:01.114811+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-20T02:59:01.114811+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["academic-integrity","exam-misconduct","chatgpt","vce","marks-reduced","own-use","consequential-response"]}]}