It’s graduation season, but are students walking across the stage… or just copy-pasting their way there?

A human Bot Hurt reader wrote in with a sharp question:

Fair question. While ChatGPT and friends might be helping students pass classes, some folks are wondering if those same students pass real life?

🧠 Who’s doing the thinking?

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini are now as common in classrooms as late-night caffeine and Modafinil. Students use them for everything from brainstorming to writing entire essays, solving math problems and even coding final projects.

A recent Open AI report shows that over one-third of 18- to 24-year-olds in the United States use ChatGPT, and among these users, over one-quarter of their messages are about learning, tutoring and school work.

🕵️‍♀️ Bot or not?

To fight back, some schools turn to AI detectors. Think of them as digital narc tools for the AI age. Popular tools include GPTZero, Copyleaks and Originality.ai.

🚨 But here's the twist. These tools aren’t foolproof.

They can:

• Flag human writing as AI, especially for multilingual or neurodivergent writers

• Miss text that’s been lightly edited after AI generation

• Get outsmarted by the very bots they’re trying to detect

So while these detectors can be helpful, even experts say they should be guides, not guilty verdicts.

One Reddit user, a self-proclaimed intro to data analysis instructor, caught a student overusing AI the old-fashioned way, by noticing the grammar was suspiciously good. According to the post, the student’s discussion board replies were a grammar disaster. But the assignment? Flawless. Too flawless.

⚖️ The case for AI

That’s not to say all AI use is bad. Some professors, like Wharton’s Ethan Mollick, are leaning in and encouraging students to collaborate with AI as a tool, not a crutch.

Mollick may be on to something. According to that same OpenAI report, many college and university students are teaching themselves—and each other—how to use AI, policies or not.

And in the real world? A lot of employers are saying the quiet part out loud: They’d rather hire someone with bot skills than years of experience. So yeah, you—or the bot—can do the math.

🤖 Final Bot thought

Are students actually learning?

It all boils down to this: Is AI being used to cheat or to learn smarter?

If students use bots to generate ideas, refine writing or explore concepts, that’s a modern study buddy. But if they’re outsourcing the entire process? That’s more like renting a brain.

And when it comes time to operate, argue, file taxes or code? There’s no GPT fallback. Just a human. Hopefully one who learned something before walking the stage.

🗣️ Bot Talk: AI on deck 🛳️ 

Cruise ships are going bot.

Royal Caribbean has rolled out more than 300 digital tools to upgrade everything from booking to buffet, according to Cruise Industry News. Many of those tools run on AI, quietly working in the background to speed up reservations, recommend activities and get you from “maybe we should go on a cruise” to “ordering my second piña colada” in record time.

The bots aren’t just scheduling massages. They’re watching the buffet. Really. AI now tracks what people eat in real time to help kitchens make less waste and fewer regretful potato salad trays. Royal Caribbean says it’s aiming to cut food waste in half this year.

Meanwhile, Norway’s Hurtigruten cruise line is going full eco-bot. Back in 2022, it announced a zero-emissions ship in the works for 2030. The design includes electric propulsion, AI-assisted steering and retractable sails.

Bots and wind power. Pirates could never.

_{Want to go full cruise nerd? This podcast featuring Hurtigruten’s COO is for you.}

🚀 Coming up next week …

I asked ChatGPT what humans fear most from AI and whoa, the bot did not hold back. From job-stealing algorithms to robots overthrowing humanity, the list is basically a Black Mirror script.

But let’s zoom in on one fear that’s already here: deepfakes. They’re getting better, faster and freakier — and no, your grandma’s Facebook isn’t safe.

Next week, we’re diving into how bots can fake faces, voices and even you. More importantly, what you can do to avoid getting bot duped, bot framed… or just plain bot hurt.