Provost Schnell of Dartmouth College has resigned following an investigation into his undisclosed use of artificial intelligence in academic work. The university committee reported that Schnell failed to cooperate fully with the investigation, as he did not provide logs from his personal AI accounts or meet with the committee.
Logs from the enterprise Claude account used by Schnell revealed that he utilized the tool to revise papers, debug code, generate figures, and refine arguments. In one instance, he asked the AI to identify traces of AI writing in his own manuscript and subsequently revised the text based on the tool's suggestions.
Schnell consistently failed to disclose his AI usage to academic journals, despite requirements to do so. In a September 2026 paper, he detailed his extensive use of GPT-5.6 Pro and Claude Fable 5.1, arguing that human authors should take full responsibility for their work regardless of AI assistance.
Despite the scandal, Dartmouth continues to promote AI integration. The university is hosting a conference titled 'What Must Remain Human?', featuring speakers like Mira Murati and Yann LeCun. President Sian Leah Beilock emphasized that university leaders must model transparency regarding AI use.
New survey data presented at the conference indicates that 61 percent of college students find AI helpful for explaining concepts. However, 70 percent believe AI has made take-home assignments unfair, and 92 percent of Dartmouth students fear that AI usage may negatively impact their writing skills.
