Parents Sue School After Son Gets Punished for Using AI on Class Project, Insist 'It Wasn't Cheating'

Mar. 15, 2025

The parents of a Massachusetts high school student are suing the school for punishing their son over the use of artificial intelligence in a paper.

Per the complaint, the parents said that the Hingham High School Student Handbook for the 2023-2024 school year did not contain any policies or procedures concerning AI.

“At the time,” the complaint said, “the Handbook did not consider artificial intelligence or inform the administration, faculty or students of the circumstances in which it may be permissibly used or whether its use was a sanctionable academic integrity infraction.” It also noted that the team project for “National History Day" did not provide instructions telling students they “were barred from using artificial intelligence.”

According to the court documents referencing the section in the school’s handbook, “Academic Integrity: Cheating and Plagiarism,” the student, identified in the complaint as “RNH,” and his parents argue that “using AI to draft, edit and research content for an AP US History project, all while not citing to use of AI in the project, is not an ‘act of dishonesty,’ ‘use of unauthorized technology’ or plagiarism — ‘unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own work.’ ”

According to the complaint, the student and his classmate employed AI “to prepare the initial outline and research for their project on Lew Alcindor, better known as [NBA legend] Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.”

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The complaint further stated that the teen, now a senior, experienced several academic and disciplinary sanctions as a result of the academic infraction — including being barred from induction into the National Honor Society.

The complaint alleged that “at least seven other students who were previously inducted into NHS who had academic integrity infractions of cheating on their record, and one of those inducted previously used AI on a paper.”

On May 24, the teen’s parents sent a letter to Margaret Adams, who was then superintendent of the Hingham Public Schools,asking for instructions and materials regarding the use of AI in the class assignment, per the complaint. The couple said they have not heard from the district and added that in addition to receiving a “zero,” their son and another student received “Saturday detention.”

In an interview withABC affiliate WCVB, the Harrises said that the school district told them their son cheated on the history paper using AI, which the parents have denied.  The couple told the outlet that Hingham High’s handbook didn’t mention AI prior to the incident involving their son and was only added this year.

“He’s been accused of cheating and it wasn’t cheating, there was no rule in the handbook against AI,” Jennifer toldFox affiliate WCVB.

Peter Farrell, an attorney for the couple, tells PEOPLE that the high school’s handbook “is intended to provide clear expectations for student behavior and discipline, fostering a supportive learning environment.”

“In this case, the disciplinary action taken against the student was arbitrary and capricious, lacking clear guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence,” he adds.

According to the additional court documents, the teen’s parents are seeking to have their son’s letter grade in social studies restored to a “B” and “expunge any grade, report, transcript entry or record of discipline imposing any kind of academic sanction on RNH.”

The Harrises are also asking the school to stop preventing their son from being inducted into the National Honor Society and that he be “retroactively appointed and inducted immediately and without further delay.”

Speaking withCBS affiliate WPR, Dale said that “some of these punishments” cannot be reversed.

He added, “You already made him redo the paper, and you can’t undo the Saturday detention, but there are some things you can fix right now and do the right thing.”

source: people.com