COPENHAGEN  –  High school students in Denmark will be required to verbally defend their written assignments as part of emergency government measures aimed at combating AI cheating. A verbal defense will be needed for all exams written at home, Denmark’s Ministry of Education announced in a statement Thursday, adding that it will work with schools to create the best framework for this. The rule, which comes into force immediately, applies to students in upper secondary education, which typically begins around age 16. It will include the approximately 9,000 students enrolled in the country’s two-year Higher Preparatory Examination program, who have to submit major written assignments each year, according to the ministry. The ministry is also calling on high schools to use tools to monitor students’ screens during exams, as well as a firewall to filter the content they can access during exams and in class. In addition, it is encouraging schools to get students to complete more assignments in school, under controlled environments, to make supervision easier. “Unfortunately, we have a problem with students using AI to cheat in upper secondary school,” Education Minister Magnus Heunicke said in the statement. “Action is needed now, and we are starting with these three initiatives.”

“In the coming period, I will be engaging with schools, teachers and students about what can be done both in the short and longer term to ensure that AI does not undermine students’ skills, academic abilities and, not least, their ability to think for themselves,” he continued. Three upper secondary school organisations — representing school leaders, teachers and students — welcomed the moves but called for more long-term solutions due to the “rapid pace of technological development,” the high schools association, Danske Gymnasier, said in a statement Thursday. Anders Frikke, chair of the Danish Association of Upper Secondary School Teachers (GL), said teachers “appreciate” that the education minister “has acted both swiftly and decisively. However, we also have additional proposals that we hope the Minister will consider.”

“These include requiring students to clearly declare when AI has been used in major written assignments and ensuring that preparation for oral examinations takes place without access to AI,” he added. While students also “welcome” the emergency initiatives, “it is important that the increased amount of written work carried out at school is organised in a way that genuinely strengthens students’ learning, rather than simply moving the work from home to school,” Oscar Tønsberg Hoffmann, chair of the Danish Upper Secondary Students’ Association (DGS), said in the statement. He added that it is “essential that students have the opportunity to contribute to the development of longer-term solutions.”