{"id":67941,"date":"2026-11-03T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T22:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=67941"},"modified":"2026-11-03T09:00:03","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T22:00:03","slug":"a-new-ai-driven-medical-danger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=67941","title":{"rendered":"A new AI-driven medical danger"},"content":{"rendered":"
Critical skills testing is under threat<\/div>\n
Alex Berenson<\/div>\n
Nov 2<\/div>\n
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(Note: the email that\u2019s posted below arrived over the weekend. I am keeping the author anonymous, per her request. But the problem of artifical-intelligence-powered cheating on tests she highlights is real and growing. For jobs like nursing, this is not just an academic problem. It\u2019s a threat to patient safety.<\/div>\n
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Companies and boards that administer critical licensing tests probably need to end any remote, at-home exams. Instead, they should offer tests only at centralized proctored locations on laptops without ANY Internet connections that they control and store themselves. Even then they face the risk of AI-powered glasses, though those should be more easily detectable.<\/div>\n
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It\u2019s sad that we\u2019ve reached this pass, but the reality is what it is.)<\/div>\n
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Hi Alex,<\/div>\n
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I\u2019m glad you are covering healthcare right now….keep going with that, please!<\/div>\n
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You have also talked about AI in general and cheating in higher education. I am a nurse educator, a Clinical Assistant Professor at a well-respected university in the XXX. Note the \u201cclinical\u201d in my job title – it means I do not have tenure. That means I have to watch what I do and say.<\/div>\n
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I just became aware of a new way that our nursing students have found to cheat. Our students take their exams on a computer that uses a lockdown browser to make sure they cannot access their computer or the internet as a way to cheat during the exam.<\/div>\n
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[Note: a lockdown browser is essentially what it sounds like \u2014 it bars a student from any connection to the Internet or opening other tabs or programs on a computer while she\u2019s taking a test. Some lockdown browsers include software (yes, inevitably, it\u2019s AI-powered) designed to catch students taking tests remotely who use a second computer or their phones to connect to AI engines.]<\/div>\n
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Well, we have now learned that students can use AI to get past that lockdown. A colleague tested it out. She was able to ask ChatGPT to set up an \u201coverlay\u201d on her -computer. (I don\u2019t know the technical terms or how it works at that level).<\/div>\n
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She then went into the lockdown browser, and while taking an exam, she could highlight the text of the question and then, through this overlay, ChatGPT would send her a message that would appear on the computer screen with the answer to the question. This essentially means the student doesn\u2019t have to know the content at all. In nursing education, we have always counted on the fact that even if a student graduates by cheating, they would never make it to be a practicing RN because they still have to pass the NCLEX [National Council Licensure Examination, the basic professional nursing test] to get their license.<\/div>\n
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Well… guess what? The NCSBN [National Council of State Boards of Nursing] (they make the NCLEX exam) is actively planning for nursing graduates to be able to take their exams at home. This would likely mean they would be using a lockdown browser and remote proctor of some sort. This is frightening to me.<\/div>\n
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The pace of AI being used for cheating is faster than the pace of developing ways to combat it. Many faculty where I work are switching to paper exams to avoid this type of cheating. That mode of testing is time-consuming for faculty, so I doubt that everyone will care enough to do it. I also doubt my school would require it.<\/div>\n
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I am hoping someone like you can get the word out about this. In addition to the total mess that is going on with the regulation and cost of healthcare, we are about to have nurses (and probably doctors) enter the healthcare workforce after cheating their way through school. I am telling my family to stay as healthy as possible so you don\u2019t have to trust your life to an unknown nurse or doctor.<\/div>\n
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Feel free to use this information as you see fit, but please keep my name and location confidential. I cannot afford to get fired.<\/div>\n
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Thanks,<\/div>\n
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XXX<\/div>\n
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(August\u2019s piece about AI and cheating in higher education)<\/div>\n
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On diversity, equity, AI cheating, and the cynicism destroying higher education (from students, professors, and administrators alike)<\/div>\n
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https:\/\/alexberenson.substack.com\/p\/on-diversity-equity-ai-cheating-and<\/a><\/div>\n
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Alex Berenson<\/div>\n
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\u00a9 2026 Alex Berenson<\/div>\n
548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Critical skills testing is under threat Alex Berenson Nov 2 (Note: the email that\u2019s posted below arrived over the weekend. I am keeping the author anonymous, per her request. But the problem of artifical-intelligence-powered cheating on tests she highlights is real and growing. For jobs like nursing, this is not just an academic problem. It\u2019s … <\/p>\n

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