(WSJ) – AI is accelerating grade inflation, research indicates, and making it harder for employers to size up graduates

While grade inflation has been an issue on college campuses for years, AI tools have made it even harder to assess the quality of students’ work. To zero in on AI’s effect on grades, Chirikov pulled data on more than half a million grades from 2018 to 2025 at a large public university in Texas that publishes course syllabi and grade distributions.

He then compared classes with more AI-exposed tasks, most prevalent in humanities and engineering disciplines, with classes less reliant on writing and coding work. There was little difference between the two groups through 2022. Afterward, “A” grades shot up higher in the more AI-exposed courses. In classes that had more take-home assignments like homework, getting an A was even more likely. (Read More)