School Board Member uses AI and Plagiarism in Order to Secure her Seat in the Upcoming Election
Reports show that Orange County NC school board member, Dr. Jennifer Moore, responded to a candidate questionnaire with generated AI and plagiarized responses.
A Copyleaks report has revealed that current Orange County School Board member, Dr. Jennifer Moore, has used upwards of 98% Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate some responses to a school board candidate questionnaire that was issued by the Orange County Association of Educators (OCAE). The Copyleaks report has also detected plagiarism that includes plagiarizing sections of a letter written by the recently departed Superintendent Dr. Monique Felder. Additionally, a second report from GPTZero has also detected the use of AI in Moore’s responses, showing 203 out of 211 sentences likely AI generated. Copyleaks was used to scan responses from the other six school board candidates who filled out the same questionnaire, results found no detection of AI or plagiarism. What is AI generated writing? It is computer generated language created by software. It is very simple to use, ask AI a question, give it a writing prompt or essay topic and it will generate a response for you.
Asking an AI-based system to write an essay on a topic that the (human) writer has not yet explored significantly subverts the thinking and learning process. -Chris Anson, NCSU English Professor
Dr. Jennifer Moore is currently seeking re-election to the Orange County School Board in the March 5th, 2024 election. Moore is officially endorsed by the educators’ organization that issued the candidate questionnaire, Orange County Association of Educators (OCAE) and an endorsement from the political action committee, Communities Supporting Orange County Schools , Public Schools Strong and Indy Week. Moore is a member of a public school activist organization, Public Schools Strong and served as Vice Chair for OCAE. The background and founding of Public Schools Strong can be read here.
On February 1st, the Northern Orange NAACP, OCAE, and Public Schools Strong held a candidate forum with all seven school board candidates. Similar questions that were on the OCAE questionnaire were asked to the candidates at the forum. Dr. Jennifer Moore used some of the same scripted responses, which have been shown to be AI generated from the OCAE questionnaire, as her answers during the forum.
More Evidence of AI Use
In order to prove that Dr. Jennifer Moore used generated AI responses on the questionnaire, an AI generator was tested on the questions. Question #7 was used in this example, Our state and school district is experiencing a staffing shortage that undermines both student learning and staff morale. What steps would you recommend to recruit, retain, and show appreciation for district employees? The generated AI answer that was produced using ZZZ Code AI is compared below with Dr. Jennifer Moore’s answer to question #7. It is quite clear her response was generated using a similar AI tool. This test was performed on multiple questions on Moore’s questionnaire, resulting in AI generated responses that matched her answers. Imagine if all the candidates used AI to answer their questions and it resulted in everyone having the same robotic unauthentic answers.
Below are additional results of cross-checking Moore’s responses on the questionnaire with three different AI detectors. The first example, on redistricting schools, shows 98% AI use detected.
The following is Moore’s response to question 3. Copyleaks detected plagiarism taken from sections of an open letter (second image) written by the previous Superintendent, Monique Felder. This letter was addressing the same topic as the question Moore was answering. Highlighted in red is plagiarism, light red is modified, and orange is paraphrased from Felder’s letter.
Questions for Dr. Jennifer Moore and the Community
After testing Moore’s responses across six different AI detector platforms, one plagiarism platform (Copyleaks, GTPZero, Undetectable AI, HIX.AI, ZZZ Code AI, and QuillBot) and being able to replicate her answers with multiple AI generators, it has been proven her responses were generated by AI and positive for plagiarizing content from a letter and a website.
Are board members held to the same expectations to follow the policies they are tasked with enforcing, such as Policy 4305 and Policy 3225/7230? Has Moore violated her ethical commitment as a board member to not undermine those school policies?
Policy Code: 4305 Code of Student- Conduct: Level I – In-School Interventions and/or In-School Discipline: Rule I-1 Plagiarism and Academic Integrity. Plagiarism is prohibited. Plagiarism includes the copying of the language, structure, idea and/or thought of another and representing it as one's own original work. Violations of this rule also include actions that violate the school system’s expectations that all students demonstrate academic integrity, such as copying the work of other students or engaging in dishonest behavior on any assignments or assessments.
Policy Code 3225/7230 Technology Responsible Use- B. Rules for Use of School Technological Resource: 3. Students and employees must comply with all applicable laws, including those relating to copyrights and trademarks, confidential information, and public records. Any use that violates state or federal law is strictly prohibited. Plagiarism of Internet resources will be treated in the same manner as any other incidents of plagiarism, as stated in the Code of Student Conduct.
Will OCAE, CSOCS, and Indy Week still endorse Moore after learning she has dishonestly generated and plagiarized ideas and then presented them as her own thoughts to improve Orange County Schools? Does Moore support using generative AI, paraphrasing, and plagiarizing without using citations? Should Orange County voters trust that Moore is authentic in her questionnaire responses since she did not honestly come up with them? Will Moore consult with generative AI before making serious human decisions like redistricting schools if re-elected to the board? Has Moore used AI in the past to respond to questions at board meetings, in writing letters to the general assembly or in creating original content in her podcasts and books? Can students use AI to generate answers to classroom assignments? When is it appropriate for teachers to use AI in curriculum and instruction? What are the dangers and benefits of using AI? Should school districts have a policy on AI use? Perhaps voters in Orange County should plan on attending the next candidate forum and ask Moore what her views are on using generative AI?
Future board candidate forums that Dr. Jennifer Moore plans to participate in are:
February 8th, 6-8 pm: The Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce- 300 West Tryon St Hillsborough-Whitted Building
Feb 13th, 7:30pm: Meet and Greet at Schley Grange -3416 Schley Road, Hurdle Mills
February 17th, 6pm: Enlace Latino NC - Eno United Methodist Church- 903 Eno St., Hillsborough
More on Artificial Intelligence in Educational Spaces
Currently, North Carolina is one of four states that has provided guidance to teachers in public schools on how to use AI tools in the classrooms. In fact, the North Carolina Department of Instruction (NCDPI) supports infusing AI literacy into all grade levels and curriculum. Some NC school districts have already adopted school policies on AI. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools permits high school students to use AI tools such as ChatGTP. Orange County Schools currently does not have a policy on AI use in the classroom.
“Generative artificial intelligence is playing a growing and significant role in our society. At NCDPI, we’re committed to preparing our students both to meet the challenges of this rapidly changing technology and become innovators in the field of computer science,” said State Superintendent Catherine Truitt. “We also believe that, when implemented thoughtfully and responsibly, generative AI has the power to revolutionize student learning and better prepare North Carolina’s students for the jobs of tomorrow.”
School districts and educators may be interested to learn that Copyleaks, the AI detector used to scan Moore’s questionnaire, has integrated with Learning Managment Systems such as Moodle, Canvas and Blackboard, as well as a partnership with Edmentum.