Haishan Yang was working toward his second PhD from the University of Minnesota when he was expelled last year.
It’s alleged that he used artificial intelligence tools to write his essays.
33-year-old Yang took a preliminary exam remotely while travelling to Morocco during the summer of 2024.
He was allowed to use notes, reports, and books, but AI tools were not allowed.
All four faculty graders of Yang’s exam expressed concerns that it was not written by the student.
Two instructors gave the essay questions to ChatGPT to compare its output with Yang’s answers.
They found that the AI’s formatting, structure, language, and content were extremely similar.
Yang says this is likely because OpenAI’s tool was using the same reference material he was.
He also claims the professors edited the ChatGPT responses to make them appear more like his answers.
The panel also criticized Yang for not including many citations and having “inconsistencies” in his testimony.
The student grew up speaking Southern Min, a Chinese dialect, writesMPR News.
Yang’s academic advisor, Bryan Dowd, called him “the best-read student” he had ever encountered.
“In over four decades…I never have seen this level of animosity directed at a student.
I have no explanation for that animosity,” Dowd said.
He also claims that the graduate director told him he should simply quit.
Yang appealed the decision and won.
The school apologized and agreed to restart his funding if he didn’t sue.
The professors say Yang had used AI to complete his work before.
He claims to have used AI only to check his English, not to generate answers.
He was given a warning but no punishment for the incident.
The university denied Yang’s appeal.
He has since filed state and federal lawsuits against his professor and the University of Minnesota.
He is seeking $575,000 in damages in the federal lawsuit and $760,000 in the defamation case.
Yang also wants his expulsion reversed and a public apology.
Yang said he used ChatGPT to write the lawsuit filings.
