A Massachusetts teacher gave a student a bad grade and a Saturday detention for using generative AI to complete an assignment — and now, as Gizmodo reports, the student’s parents are suing the school on the grounds that he might not get into elite universities as a result.
The unusual lawsuit was filed against the Hingham, Massachusetts public school system by Dale and Jennifer Harris, whose child received a 65 out of 100 for using AI without authorization to complete an AP US History assignment.
The Harris family is arguing that their son was handed a barely-passing grade — 65 is one point above an F — on a technicality, as the Hingham High School handbook doesn’t expressly forbid students from using generative AI. The lawsuit also disputes the school’s ability to make rules about AI use in its classrooms at all, as the state’s education authority has yet to provide official AI guidance.
The parents further claim that generative AI was used only to research the assignment, and not to write it. The lawsuit used some surprisingly strong language, condemning the school and its staff for allegedly engaging in a “pervasive, destructive and merciless path of threats, intimidation and coercion to impact and derail [our son’s] future and his exemplary record.”
