South Korean police have opened an investigation after the top scorer on the country's national tax accountant exam confessed to cheating with AI, photographing exam questions with a miniature camera and checking AI-generated answers on his smartphone. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Sunday it received the candidate's written confession through his lawyer that morning and assigned the case to investigators.
The candidate, who has not been named, ranked first in both rounds of the qualification exam, held in April and July. His first-round score of 397.5 out of 400, a single wrong answer across 160 questions, drew accusations that he had used smart glasses. He initially denied them.
In a video posted on his lawyer's YouTube channel, the candidate laid out the method: he photographed the questions with a miniature camera, sent them to an AI system and read the answers back on his phone. He said he deeply regretted what he had done. The AFP reports on the confession do not name the AI tool he used.
Key facts
- 01The top scorer on South Korea's tax accountant exam confessed through his lawyer to cheating with AI; Seoul police opened a probe Nov. 15.
- 02He scored 397.5 out of 400 in the first round, missing one of 160 questions, and ranked first in both April and July rounds.
- 03He photographed questions with a miniature camera, sent them to AI and checked the answers on his smartphone.
- 04HRDK will file a criminal complaint for obstruction of business; officials ordered a review of AI cheating across all national exams.
- 05The presidential office flagged the case ahead of the Suneung college entrance exam on November 19.
He attributed the cheating to money problems after quitting a job to start a business, saying he wanted to make money and did not want to keep disappointing his parents. His lawyer said further details of the method would not be disclosed because other test-takers could copy it.
The Human Resources Development Service of Korea (HRDK), which administers the exam, said two supervisors were present during the test. HRDK president Lee Byung-hoon apologised, and the agency said it will file a criminal complaint against the test-taker for obstruction of business.
The case is already widening beyond one exam. At a Sunday meeting, officials decided to comprehensively investigate all suspected AI-related cheating across South Korea's national qualification exams, according to the presidential office.
The presidential office said it was treating the issue seriously with the annual college entrance exam, the Suneung, scheduled for November 19.
South Korea has been stepping up detection of AI-assisted cheating. HRDK said Sunday that an "AI inspector" caught a test-taker wearing smart glasses during a gas engineer certification exam last month, and in October the government announced plans to file criminal complaints against students caught using such devices in the national university entrance exam.
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