2026 · GS Paper 4 · Q1(a) · 10 marks
Owing to paucity of time, a university professor generates a Ph.D. evaluation report using Artificial Intelligence and submits it with some modifications. Discuss this from the perspective of accountability and integrity.
In short
By letting AI draft a Ph.D. evaluation report and passing it off as his own, the professor evades undelegable responsibility, breaches the thesis's confidentiality and misrepresents authorship. The honest course was an extension or open, disclosed use of AI as an aid, not a substitute for judgment.
Model answer
Ghissu Editorial · Verified 4 Oct 2026 · 298 words
Responsibility cannot be delegated
The examiner answers to the candidate and the university for every line he signs; blaming the tool is conscience laundering through technology.
Due diligence
Generative AI invents facts, as the fabricated cases in Mata v. Avianca (2023) showed, so an unverified report risks an unfair verdict.
Confidentiality
Uploading an unpublished thesis to a commercial tool breaches trust, which is why the US NIH barred peer reviewers from generative AI in 2023.
Honest about the shortfall
Lack of time called for an extension or declining the task, not a hidden shortcut.
Honesty in authorship
Passing off machine text as one's judgment is the misrepresentation that the UGC Academic Integrity Regulations, 2018 penalise in students and faculty alike.
Fairness to the candidate
Years of research deserve a reader's mind; a cut-and-edit report treats the scholar merely as a means, against Kant's duty.
Teacher as exemplar
A guru is a role model, and an examiner who cuts corners teaches the next generation that shortcuts pay.
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Question from the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) Examination 2026 paper. Answer written by Ghissu's engine and checked against our editorial standards. Found an error? Tell us and we correct it within 48 hours.