Danish pupils will have to orally defend essays in attempt to combat AI cheating

Danish teenagers will have to make an oral defence of their written essays to combat AI cheating, the government has announced.Pupils aged 16 to 19 at upper secondary school (known in Denmark as gymnasiet) will also be encouraged to do written assignments at school under controlled conditions, including monitoring of their computer screens, rather than at home.The measures, announced on Thursday as pupils prepare to go back to school next week after the summer break, will come into immediate effect after Magnus Heunicke, the country’s education minister, demanded urgent action.“Unfortunately, we have a problem with AI cheating in upper secondary schools,” he said. “Action is needed now.”AI had posed a growing challenge to teaching and exams, the education ministry said. It is hoped the new measures will help to establish clearer guidelines for when pupils are not permitted to use it.The government is also preparing a comprehensive national strategy for AI use in all schools and the wider education sector.Heunicke said he would speak to schools, teachers and students to “ensure that AI does not undermine students’ competencies, professionalism and, not least, the ability to think for themselves”.The first measure to be introduced is the oral defence of exam assignments written at home. About 9,000 upper secondary school students each year write a big assignment (known as større skriftlige opgave or SSO), which they will now have to defend orally. The ministry said it would speak to schools about the best way to do this.Upper secondary schools will also be required to use monitoring tools to oversee how computers are being used for written exams. They are required to install firewalls to filter what is available on the school network during exams and teaching.The third measure is a plea to schools to encourage pupils to do more of their written assignments at school under controlled conditions, to “follow the students’ work process, provide relevant feedback and create a more accurate basis for assessment”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe ready availability of AI tools is upending education around the world for teachers and pupils, leaving governments scrambling to assess if and how they should intervene.In neighbouring Sweden, a study found that the number of students suspended or warned for unauthorised AI use rose by 688% between 2023 and 2025. The government has commissioned a review into how schools are tackling AI cheating, which will report back in April.Announcing the review, Lotta Edholm, the Swedish minister for upper secondary school, said in January: “There is no reason to turn a blind eye to cheating students. Cheating is completely unacceptable regardless of what form. It risks affecting grades that should reflect students’ knowledge and in the long term, students are not actually learning what they should.”