Man claims he used ChatGPT to cheat on every single essay he wrote in college, now he wants the college to take back his degree

AI seems to have crept its way into almost every facet of our lives and one of the most concerning places is within education. While there are measures in place to prevent the use of technology like ChatGPT, when it comes to essays and exams, they aren’t perfect and students will always find a way around such barriers.

Such is the case with one man on TikTok who claims that he used ChatGPT on every assignment throughout college and was never caught. Daniel Schmidt claims that he got an Economics degree from the University of Chicago five months ago. While it’s supposedly one of the best institutions for such a degree, Schmidt’s cheating was never caught despite him using ChatGPT on every essay. As a matter of fact, he got all A’s on every essay.

If true, that’s pretty bad and obviously very unfair to the other students who actually put effort into doing things the right way. However, in his video Schmidt claims that he wants the university to take back his degree on account of him cheating but the school refused to do so.

Not only that, but he also claims that he quit the fancy finance job he got with his degree and has left that life behind him after seemingly having a crisis of conscience. Schmidt moved out of the apartment he had in the city and moved back to his mother’s as well.

“We’re stuck in survival mode”

Schmidt then launches into a bizarre monologue relating to Minecraft and how life used to feel like “creative mode” when we were kids but now everybody’s “stuck in survival mode.” It seems his sudden change of heart was borne from his own alienation from the capitalist system. “There’s only one way out, someone has to /gamemode creative the entire world.” For those who don’t play Minecraft, creative mode essentially removes all challenge from the game, allowing players to build whatever they want however they want.

“If a machine can replace you,” Schmidt continues, “you were never really using your soul to begin with.” He then reveals he’s come up with a plan to “change the game mode.”

It’s difficult to gauge just how genuine he’s being about all of this. “Graduated five months ago and you already got a finance job and made tons of money OK bro,” reads one sarcastic comment. Others labeled the man’s rambling as a “manic episode.”

However, some did buy into his monologue, “every single thing coming out of his mouth is nothing but the truth,” wrote one person, “You aren’t crazy this isn’t right,” reassured another viewer. In a second video Schmidt vowed he would start a new civilization, how exactly he intends to do so is unclear, maybe he can ask ChatGPT.