BATON ROUGE - Artificial intelligence continues to change many things, including how students learn and do their work. Educators are using it, too. LSU has a university-wide license with Turnitin, a platform where students submit assignments. Turnitin then checks for plagiarism or AI-generated work. 

"They're using AI to detect AI, which makes no sense," said Avery, an LSU Freshman.

Avery interviewed with 2 On Your Side and asked that her identity remain concealed. Her voice was altered to reflect that anonymity. 

LSU admits that the AI detection tool it uses can produce both false positives and false negatives. Even so, Avery says she has been caught in that very situation, and it has dragged on for several weeks with no resolution in sight. 

"As of right now, there's no credit for the class," said Avery.

In November, Avery submitted a class assignment. She was tasked with writing about a personal experience. Days later, she received an email from her professor saying that her work has been flagged by Turnitin as 100% AI. Her assignment has been submitted to Student Advocacy and Accountability for possible violation of the Student Code of Conduct. 

Avery tells 2 On Your Side she did not plagiarize, and her work was written after participating in an event near her home.

"It makes no sense, and I know that the teacher didn't read the paper, so that kind of just makes me disappointed," she said.

Without credit for the course, she's at risk of losing scholarships. Those missing credits make her appear on paper as a part-time student.

"I have two scholarships that are going to be completely gone if this doesn't get fixed," she said.

Academic integrity referrals related to suspected AI misuse are included within LSU's broader academic misconduct data. In the fall of 2025, LSU received 1,488 academic misconduct cases. As of January 14, 2026, 693 academic misconduct cases remain open, including Avery's. 

"It's extremely stressful; my anxiety is terrible, even though I'm done with that course. When I have to write another paper, is this going to be counted or flagged for the way I write?" said Avery.

LSU says, like other education institutions, it's adapting to a rapidly changing landscape as AI tools become more common in coursework. The university says it's actively learning how to use the tools to detect AI both efficiently and ethically and it will continue to follow the Student Code of Conduct process in full. Avery and hundreds of other students are anxiously waiting for the next step. If Student Advocacy and Accountability determines that no AI was used the assignment will then be graded. The worse-case scenario is expulsion.