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Santiago Schnell, the provost of Dartmouth College, resigned after a faculty committee determined he failed to disclose his use of Claude and ChatGPT in his academic and public writing.
A faculty review at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, found that provost Santiago Schnell used ChatGPT and Claude in published writing without required disclosure and fell short of institutional standards. The review examined AI logs and correspondence rather than detector scores. Schnell resigned and was leaving the college after the findings were released.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
The provost engaged in AI-facilitated academic cheating by using Claude and ChatGPT to edit papers and write op-eds without disclosing the AI assistance, violating journal and newspaper standards for personal/professional advantage.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
The incident was caused by a human decision (by Santiago Schnell) to intentionally use AI tools in his writing and intentionally omit the required disclosures.
The resignation of the Dartmouth College provost over undisclosed AI use in academic and public writing is an ethical and academic integrity issue with negligible national security implications.
The report describes the provost using Claude and ChatGPT as writing assistants to refine arguments, check for grammatical errors, and edit manuscripts. These tools augmented his capabilities but required his oversight and decision-making to submit the final work.
Limited Risk: The incident involves the use of chatbots (Claude and ChatGPT) to generate and edit text and figures, which falls under Risk Level 3 due to transparency obligations requiring disclosure when AI-generated content is used.
The provost used Claude and ChatGPT primarily to edit manuscripts, refine arguments, and check grammar, which are classic functions of a Writing Assistant. He also used Claude to troubleshoot coding errors.
The report clearly details the specific AI tools used (Claude and ChatGPT), the context of their use (academic and public writing), the specific violations (failure to disclose), and the direct consequence (resignation of the provost). There is little ambiguity regarding the facts of the incident.
None
Technology
Unmonitored Enterprise AI Access
Easy access to Claude and ChatGPT enabled undisclosed assistance.
Lack of Automated AI Detection
Publishers lacked automated tools to detect AI-generated content.
Data Inputs
AI Prompts for Academic Editing
Prompts asked Claude to find scientific issues and troubleshoot code.
AI-Generated Figures and Code
Manuscript text and code were input to generate figures and edits.
Human Factors
Undisclosed AI Assistance
The author chose not to disclose AI usage to publishers.
Misjudgment of Ethical AI Use
Failing to recognize that AI refinement violated integrity codes.
Evasive Response to AI Inquiry
The author delayed and failed to answer AI-related audit questions.
Process and Methods
Inadequate AI Policy Workflows
Absence of clear workflows for verifying AI disclosure in submissions.
Unregulated AI Editing Methods
Substantial AI editing occurred without formal tracking or logs.
Management
Inadequate Executive Oversight
University lacked proactive oversight of executive AI use.
Failure to Model Ethical AI Use
As Provost, the author failed to set a transparent AI example.
Regulatory Environment
Journal AI Disclosure Rules
ChemSystemsChem mandated AI disclosure which the author bypassed.
Newspaper AI Limitations
The Washington Post standards prohibited undisclosed AI refinement.
AI system involved
Identified by automated extraction; can differ from the alleged developers above.
