A significant academic integrity issue has emerged at Brown University, centered around Professor Roberto Serrano's economics course, ECON 1170. Following a campus tragedy in December 2025, Serrano opted for take-home exams for his spring 2026 semester to accommodate students. This change led to an unexpected surge in enrollment, with 86 students signing up compared to the usual maximum of 30.

The impact on academic performance was immediate and dramatic. The midterm exam, administered on March 5, saw an average score of 96 out of 100, with 40 students achieving a perfect score. Serrano noted that this exam was designed to be more challenging than previous ones due to the take-home format and unlimited time, making the exceptionally high average grade highly suspect. Historically, the course's midterm average has ranged between 65 and 80 percent.

This situation reflects a broader trend observed in higher education, where students may be leveraging generative AI as a shortcut to manage demanding academic schedules. A recent Princeton survey indicated that 29.9 percent of students admitted to using AI for exams or assignments. The Brown University incident, however, provides a stark case study of how widespread AI-assisted cheating could potentially inflate grades and substitute for genuine learning, prompting concerns about the integrity of academic assessments.