ChatGPT is inflating GPAs — and killing the value of a college degree
a berkeley study of 500k grades found gpas rose 0.12 points post-chatgpt, driven by homework a's in writing/coding courses. this suggests students are outsourcing work to ai rather than learning, devaluing degrees.
a study of 500,000 grades at a large texas university found that chatgpt's arrival caused average gpas to rise by 0.12 points, with a grades increasing by 13 percentage points in courses focused on writing and coding. the grade inflation is entirely concentrated in unsupervised homework assignments, which saw a's jump an extra 16 percentage points when heavily weighted, while exam scores and oral presentation grades remained unchanged. author igor chirikov concludes this is strong evidence that ai is outsourcing student work rather than improving learning, creating a false signal of competency that could mislead employers and graduate programs. the study warns of a dangerous feedback loop where students fail to develop skills in the very areas ai is strongest, potentially widening future skill gaps and speeding automation.