Online exam proctoring company ProctorU announced earlier this week that it will no longer send artificial intelligence-generated reports of potential student misconduct to institutions without ProctorU staff members first reviewing the footage -- a development raising more questions than it answers about higher education's use of the technology. ProctorU, like many companies offering remote proctoring services, employs AI technology to monitor student movement during tests and flag activity that might indicate a student is cheating. Typical behavior that may be flagged by the AI includes students getting up from their seats, not looking consistently at their screens or talking out loud. Previously, as part of its cheapest proctoring package, ProctorU sent AI-generated incident reports to instructors without staff members reviewing them first. The company offered this package on the condition that any AI-generated reports would be reviewed by instructors.

In a viral TikTok video, a college student showed an unseen way that academic artificial intelligence, produced by companies like ProctorU, can damage lives. However, she explains that her professor gave her a zero because the "Review " software built by ProctorU showed her mouthing one of the questions in its video recording. "I was just re-reading the question, so I could better understand it," she says. AI (artificial intelligence) proctor software, produced by companies like ProctorU, has been increasingly put under the microscope for data privacy and security issues. Proctoring software use has grown considerably, as the COVID-19 pandemic pushes schools and universities to transition more quickly to remote/online learning.