–– Paul Schlehlein

Audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Recently the University of Fort Hare in South Africa has been ensnared in controversy. One of its professors has been charged with ignoring the plagiarism of nine postgraduate students under his supervision. This comes over two decades after another infamous plagiarism case in South Africa, where a doctoral thesis was submitted to the University of Witwatersrand, having been copied word-for-word from another student’s post-graduate thesis. Upon discovery, the professor was fired from the university and his PhD was invalidated, a reminder that plagiarism remains one of academia’s most serious offences. 

Plagiarism is the practice of taking someone else’s ideas or work and passing them off as one’s own. For centuries this has been a worldwide problem and today’s Africa is no exception. 

One may be tempted to believe that ChatGPT is the source of plagiarism today, but in reality, man’s sinful heart is the cause. ChatGPT has only made plagiarism easier, akin to the way smartphones have made it less difficult to obtain pornography. 

ChatGPT, the AI chatbot that can generate a plethora of products with just a few clicks of a button, was launched at the end of 2022. But plagiarism has afflicted students long before that. For example, a survey of universities in South Africa in 2014 found that nearly one thousand students were caught cheating or plagiarizing, most likely just a fraction of the plagiarizers who did not get caught. 

In a medical journal article on plagiarism, O.O. Ogunsuji and O.F. Fagbule argue that Africa is particularly susceptible to plagiarism for the following reasons. (1) Weak institutional policies to identify plagiarism. (2) The reluctance to punish offenders. (3) Weak English and writing skills. (4) The desperation to gain promotion through publishing, whatever the cost. If their conclusions are sound, we must be extra vigilant against this common vice. 

Why is Plagiarism Wrong

Plagiarism is wrong because it breaks at least three of the 10 Commandments. It breaks the First Commandment (“You shall have no other gods before me”) because one of the sins this law forbids is self-love and self-seeking. Plagiarisers want to promote self through pirated work. Philippians 2:3 says, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit.” 

Second, plagiarism breaks the 8^th Commandment:  “You shall not steal” (Ex. 20:15). Plagiarism steals the work of another. Question 142 of the Westminster Larger Catechism asks: “What are the sins forbidden in the 8^th Commandment?” The answer includes offences like robbery, manstealing, envy and bribery. The Catechism easily could have added plagiarism. 

It took da Vinci about seven years to paint the Mona Lisa, today worth about $2 billion. A handyman stole the painting in 1911 before being caught, an obvious case of theft. But Albert Einstein took about the same number of years to discover the Theory of Relativity. For someone to claim Einstein’s hypothesis as one’s own, even though the object in question is invisible, is also stealing. It is intellectual thievery. 

Third, plagiarism breaks the 9^th Commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour” (Ex. 20:16). The plagiariser claims that quote, that paper, that research, as his own, when in fact, it is not. Someone else said it. Someone else wrote it. Someone else researched it. And Proverbs 6:17 says God hates lying. 

Causes

Third, ChatGPT helps us to become comfortable with secret vices. Technology makes it easier to cloak our sins. ChatGPT makes it easier to present the work of others as our own. 

Solutions

How can institutions, educators, and students overcome the problem of plagiarism with the rapid growth of AI? Here are a few brief considerations.   

First, teach about the benefits and dangers of technology. Phones, for example, make our world more efficient, which is a good thing. On the other hand, they make our culture image-centred rather than word-centred, which is a bad thing. Yes, AI is smart, but it is fallible. Only the Bible is infallible. Several of Neil Postman’s books will point you in the right direction, such as Amusing Ourselves to Death and Technopoly.

Second, clearly define plagiarism and write an institutional policy stating its seriousness. Just as the death penalty deters murder, a failing grade or expulsion deters plagiarism. Nancy Vyhmeister writes: “Most schools have a ‘Plagiarism Policy’ that states just how seriously the institution takes using another person’s materials as one’s own. Punishment may range from a zero on the paper, to a failing grade in the class, to dismissal from school” (p. 61). 

Third, emphasize the journey, not just the destination. How we get there is just as important as where we are going. My high school math teacher banned calculators, not because they had no value, but because he knew they’d short-circuit the work we should do in our heads. I’m so thankful he emphasized the journey. Just as bodybuilders take steroids when the destination is the only goal, so too will students plagiarize their work. 

As Ephesians 4:28 says, Christians must no longer steal, but rather labour, doing honest work with their own hands.