LSU star gymnast’s TikTok ad for AI homework tool prompts ‘academic misconduct’ warning

A Louisiana State University social media influencer’s endorsement of artificial intelligence to write automated assignments has led to a warning from college administrators.

LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne shared the paid post with her 7.2 million followers on TikTok on Sunday recommending Caktus AI, which promotes itself as the first educational artificial intelligence tool.

“Need to get creativity flowing for my essay due to midnight,” text reads at the start of the 10 second video.

Ms Dunne then demonstrates how the AI software can construct complete paragraphs from prompts by writing the phrase “gymnastics is the hardest sport”.

A caption on the post, which had received more than one million views by Saturday, boasts that Caktus AI will “provide real sources for you to cite at the end of your essays and paragraphs”.

The video drew critical remarks from some commenters, and in a statement LSU warned students at the about their use of AI for classwork without mentioning Ms Dunne by name.

“At LSU, our professors and students are empowered to use technology for learning and pursuing the highest standards of academic integrity,” the Baton Rouge school said in a statement, according to The Advocate. “However, using AI to produce work that a student then represents as one’s own could result in a charge of academic misconduct, as outlined in the Code of Student Conduct.”

The release of ChatGPT late last year led to public schools and colleges in several cities including New York City and Seattle banning the generative AI platform from devices and networks over concerns about its impacts on learning.

LSU’s code of conduct doesn’t specifically ban the use of artificial intelligence in classwork, but does prohibit plagiarism in academic work.

It defines plagiarism as the “lack of appropriate citation, or the unacknowledged inclusion of someone else’s words, structure, ideas, or data; (or) failure to identify a source”.

Ms Dunne, 20, is a former USA national team gymnast who competes for the Tigers women’s gymnastics team.

The social media sensation has amassed more than 10 million followers on Instagram and TikTok, and earns up to $43,000 per post, according to an analysis by Betsperts.com. She is the top earner on social media among current college athletes, and has reportedly raked in more than $2.3m from endorsements and partnerships.