Brown professor’s stark score drop fuels AI cheating alarm and campus-wide reckoning

• December 2025: Tragedy and a shift to take‑home exams
• Spring 2026: Enrollment and midterm scores surge
• Serrano grows suspicious of AI
• In‑person final: scores ‘tank’ and students drop
• July 2026: Brown investigates, debate spreads

Brown professor’s stark score drop fuels AI cheating alarm and campus-wide reckoning
A welfare economics course at Brown University has become a flashpoint in the debate over generative AI and academic integrity, after a dramatic collapse in exam scores raised suspicions of widespread cheating.

§December 2025: Tragedy and a shift to take‑home exams

The story begins in December 2025, when a gunman attacked Brown’s campus, killing two people, including someone who had recently introduced herself to economics professor Roberto Serrano. Shaken, Serrano redesigned his spring 2026 section of ECON 1170, allowing both the midterm and final to be take‑home to reduce pressure on students.

§Spring 2026: Enrollment and midterm scores surge

The historically small, advanced class—“typically” under 30 students, sometimes as few as eight—suddenly ballooned to 86 enrollees, likely “because of the new evaluation system.” On the March 5 take‑home midterm, results were “extraordinary,” with an average of 96 out of 100 and 40 students scoring a perfect 100, far above past norms Serrano had reported to other outlets.

§Serrano grows suspicious of AI

The unprecedented scores and the ease of using chatbots led Serrano to suspect generative AI was heavily used. “The problem with this technology is that the cost of cheating has basically gone down to zero,” he told Business Insider. “It’s very easy for students to succumb to the temptation.”

§In‑person final: scores ‘tank’ and students drop

In response, Serrano ordered the final exam to be held in person. Many of the previously high‑scoring students dropped the class, and others who had scored in the high 90s on the midterm fell into the 50s on the proctored final. One chart of student scores, described as a “wake‑up call” about AI cheating, went viral among educators and technologists.

§July 2026: Brown investigates, debate spreads

On July 8, Serrano formally shared details with Brown’s standing committee on the academic code; the university said it would “move forward according to its procedures” and that it treats “every allegation of academic integrity with the utmost seriousness.”

The scandal, covered by outlets including Business Insider and Ars Technica, has sparked wider debate over whether reliance on AI is eroding genuine learning and, as one summary put it, risks contributing to “a failed society.” Meanwhile, Serrano says he is “a little overwhelmed” by the attention but views the data as a warning sign for higher education in the AI era.

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