The scene
A student dentist was surprised to hear that one of their friends on the course was planning to submit a paper for a writing competition because they had sometimes struggled with the academic workload during the previous year. When they asked them about this during a night out, the friend laughed and said it wasn’t going to be an issue as they were going to use AI to do the work.
The student was surprised and concerned because they felt this was dishonest but they didn’t want to get their friend into trouble.
DDU advice
AI tools can generate persuasive and convincing sounding text that's difficult to distinguish from that written by a human but a student who used it to generate ideas or content and passed this off as their own work would be cheating and put their career on the line.
If it’s discovered the paper isn’t the student’s own work or they have lifted phrases or quoted findings without acknowledgement, it would raise serious questions about their honesty. Universities and other organisations are increasingly switched onto the use of AI by students and now use text-matching software that compares the submitted work against millions of other sources including dissertations, articles and books. In addition, the use of AI could lead to inaccuracies or omissions if it applies US law and practice as the default, rather than relevant UK regulatory standards. These errors might be missed by the student but should be obvious to an expert reader and prompt them to ask questions.
Even if the student used an online plagiarism checkers, relying on this could lead to a false sense of security as it's unlikely to scrutinise the work to the same level as the competition organisers or their dental school tutors.
The GDC’s Student professionalism and fitness to practise guidance gives cheating and plagiarising as examples of concerns that commonly trigger a fitness to practise investigation that might lead to them being excluded from the course. And even if the student was allowed to continue, they would still need to declare this when applying for GDC registration and the GDC would need to be satisfied that concerns about their practice or honesty had been addressed.
The first step in these circumstances would be for the student to talk to their friend and explain their concerns, as well as the likely consequences of being caught cheating. If they were unable to persuade them to take the matter seriously, they would then be obliged to raise their concerns with their personal tutor or supervisor (although mentioning this possibility should be enough to bring them to their senses).
Ultimately, the student's professional duty should override any personal loyalty and raising concerns before their friend goes ahead would be better than letting events take their course.
What happened next
The student spoke to their friend the following evening and persuaded them that the risk of being exposed as a cheat was too great and they would be better to focus on their existing work. While they found it difficult to start the conversation, they were relieved to find their friend understood their concerns and agreed not to enter the competition. They also agreed to be study partners that term so that they could support each other with the academic side of the course.
This is a fictionalised case compiled from actual DDU case files.
This page was correct at publication on 22/11/2024. Any guidance is intended as general guidance for members only. If you are a member and need specific advice relating to your own circumstances, please contact one of our advisers.
by Leo Briggs BDS, MSc Deputy head of the DDU
Leo Briggs qualified from University College Hospital, London, in 1989. He has worked extensively in the Community Dental Service including a brief period overseas. He has also worked in General Dental Practice.
Leo gained a masters degree in Periodontology from the Eastman in 1995 and is on the GDC specialist register for Periodontics. Since 1995 he has provided specialist periodontal treatment in both the Salaried Dental Services and Private Practice. He started working for the DDU in 2005. Between 2007 and 2009 he worked part time at the DDU and part time as a Clinical Tutor at the School for Professionals Complementary to Dentistry in Portsmouth. In 2009 Leo went full time with the DDU. In January 2016 he became deputy head of the DDU. He continues to work clinically as a specialist periodontist in a General Practice on Saturdays.