Dartmouth provost resigns after faculty investigation finds he used AI to alter writing

Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth College Provost Santiago Schnell has resigned after a faculty investigation found that he used artificial intelligence to meaningfully alter his writing and was not forthcoming about his use of the technology, The Associated Press reported.

The announcement Wednesday comes as colleges and universities nationwide grapple with the implications of AI tools for teaching, academic integrity and student writing.

The controversy began after Schnell published an August guest essay in The Washington Post titled “Universities are fighting AI cheating. But there’s a deeper problem.” The essay was later identified as entirely AI-written after Semafor used an AI filter to examine opinion pieces published in major newspapers.

Schnell initially defended the column, telling the outlet that he had used ChatGPT to “refine a few arguments” but that the piece reflected his own thinking.

The Dartmouth, the college’s student newspaper, subsequently examined other writing by Schnell using an AI detector. The analysis found that his work published before ChatGPT’s public release in 2022 was human-written, while more recent writing showed high rates of AI use.

In an email to the student newspaper, Schnell said he used AI for “language refinement, copyediting, improving clarity and organization and making writing processes more efficient.” The newspaper’s detector also identified the statement as AI-generated.

Schnell later clarified that he had developed the substance of the email and written a draft before using an AI tool to improve its language and clarity.