Minnesota PhD student sues university over expulsion for alleged AI exam use
A health economics PhD student at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities was expelled in November 2022 after faculty members claimed his exam answers showed signs of AI use based on comparisons with ChatGPT-generated responses and automated detection tools. The student has filed a federal lawsuit alleging wrongful expulsion, procedural violations, and biased detection methods that unfairly disadvantage non-native English speakers.
What happened
Haishan Yang, a third-year Ph.D. student in health economics at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, was expelled in November 2022 after four faculty members grading his eight-hour online preliminary exam expressed significant concerns about whether he used AI tools like ChatGPT. They cited answers that seemed off-topic or covered material not taught in courses, and two professors generated their own ChatGPT responses to compare against Yang's submission and presented AI detection software findings at a disciplinary hearing.
Yang denies using AI and filed a federal lawsuit alleging wrongful expulsion based on procedural flaws, reliance on altered evidence, and denial of adequate notice and opportunity to respond. He argues the comparison responses generated by professors and AI detection tools are unreliable and disproportionately bias against non-native English speakers.
Reported impact
As an international student, Yang's expulsion resulted in him losing his visa status. He is seeking $575,000 in damages and a reversal of the decision.
Index analysis
The case illustrates challenges in reliably detecting AI use in academic work, particularly when detection relies on AI-generated comparisons and automated tools that may flag work inconsistently or disproportionately affect non-native English speakers.
Governance controls
A student conduct review panel unanimously concluded Yang was guilty based on a preponderance of the evidence after a November hearing. Yang's advisor, Professor Bryan Dowd, spoke in his defense, describing Yang as an excellent and trustworthy student with a solo-authored paper under review at a top economics journal.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.