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Students at Princeton University are about to experience something they haven’t since the late 1800s: having someone watch them take their exams. The change stems from concerns about the proliferation of AI-related cheating among college students.
The change goes into effect on July 1. Exams taken after that date will be proctored, the formal term for being supervised to ensure academic integrity while testing. Proctoring can come in many forms, including cameras, microphones and screen-sharing software. Princeton’s solution is to use human instructors to witness the students taking exams and then report infractions to the student-run honor committee for punishment.
The switch to proctoring was requested by both faculty and students. According to Princeton, students were concerned that cheating with generative AI is too easy since it can take place on personal devices like smartphones, making it harder to detect and to report, per the school’s honor system. The Ivy League school also notes that reports are less frequent and often anonymous due to the potential threats of retaliation via social media in the form of doxxing or other bullying behavior.
“This has made it difficult for the Honor Committee and the Office of the Dean of the Undergraduate Students to follow up on concerns, even when there is significant buzz or outrage about supposedly egregious violations,” said Michael Gordin, dean of the college at Princeton, in the policy proposal that outlined the new changes. “If students alone are present in the examination room and students are unwilling to report, then there is no check against misconduct during assessments.”
A survey conducted among Princeton students in 2025 showed that approximately 30% of students admitted to cheating. The survey noted that there were “no significant increases in instances where individuals were called before the Honor Committee,” despite the rise.
Princeton’s administration, including the Committee of Examinations & Standing, unanimously voted in April to institute proctoring. It’s the biggest change to the university’s honor system since it was introduced in 1893, when it was passed specifically to end proctoring at the school. Students are still expected to adhere to the honor code and will be asked to attest that they did not violate it during exams.
An evolving fight against AI cheating
Princeton is one of several schools making major changes due to students using AI. In 2024, Duke University ceased giving numerical ratings to student essays as part of the admissions process. Christoph Guttentag, Duke’s dean of undergraduate admissions, noted that essays were once a way to better understand applicants, but with the rise of AI, the university could no longer assume that essays accurately reflected candidates. The university still assigns numerical scores to other categories, such as curriculum strength, extracurriculars and test scores.
Princeton’s return to proctoring is also in line with what researchers are seeing across higher education.
“Our research shows that students are already navigating significant undercertainty about when and how AI use is acceptable, and that uncertainty is generating real tensions around academic integrity,” said Jennifer Rubin, senior researcher at the education research organization Foundry10. “Princeton’s decision reflects a broader pattern we’re seeing across education: institutions turning to increased oversight when existing norms feel inadequate.”
Rubin notes that proctors may relieve “some of the immediate pressure” when it comes to cheating with AI, but more will have to be done to navigate AI effectively given its nearly ubiquitous availability.
This is already happening in academia. Many schools have implemented tools like AI detection and have strict rules on AI use. It’s common for schools to allow students limited AI use for tasks like correcting grammar and spelling in essays and for brainstorming, while making it clear that having AI write essays or create other work constitutes plagiarism.
AI policies in schools have reached into the lower grades, with nearly half of all teachers in grades 6 through 12 saying they regularly use AI detection tools (PDF).
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