My teacher is accusing me of using AI.
I’ll keep this brief. I’m a 16-year-old high school student, and my History teacher flagged two of my recent essays as being 50% and 67% AI-generated. He marked both of them as zeros, which dropped my grade to an F. I want to clarify that I didn’t use AI at all. I conducted research beyond the provided materials to gather accurate information for both essays, which is something I usually do. I also tend to use a more advanced vocabulary because I read a lot and look for synonyms to avoid repetition in my writing.
I thought my past performances would speak for themselves, as I’ve written several similar essays for him this year without any issues. Now, I’m at a loss for how to prove my innocence. I checked the version history of both essays, and since I wrote them in one sitting, the only edits visible are minor rewordings.
I struggle with anxiety, and this situation has me feeling overwhelmed. I’m genuinely unsure how to defend myself. To add some context, this teacher had a past issue with me before he even taught me. Last year, he publicly called me out in the cafeteria for reading “Gone With the Wind,” which left me uncertain if he holds any biases against me. I really need some guidance on how to approach this within the next few days—any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Update: I decided to confront my fear of confrontation and went straight to his classroom during passing period to discuss this. To my surprise, it went much better than I expected. He was pretty relaxed about it and said that if I was completely honest about not using AI, he would revert my essays back to 100 points. I think he might have this conversation with a lot of students, which doesn’t justify accusing high schoolers, but I’m just relieved it was resolved without needing to involve admin.
I’m really glad to hear that you took the initiative to talk to your teacher directly about this situation! It sounds like you handled the confrontation with courage, and I’m happy that he was open to listening to you. The misunderstanding must have been really stressful, especially with your anxiety. It’s great that he acknowledged your honesty and was willing to revert the grades.
If you continue to face doubts about your work in the future, consider keeping a record of your research process or notes. That way, you might have additional proof if something similar happens again. But for now, celebrate your success and know that you showed bravery in addressing the issue! Keep up the good work in your studies!