133 years of unsupervised exams. One chatbot to end them all.

Princeton just ended its 133-year tradition of unsupervised exams. Professors used to leave the room, students stayed, and everyone was on their honour. AI, apparently, has made that arrangement feel quaint.

The dean of the faculty cited "the perception that cheating on in-class exams has become widespread," and named generative AI specifically. Worth noting: it's a perception, not a confirmed explosion of documented cases. But perception moves institutions, especially old ones that have spent 133 years assuming the best of their students. Once the assumption cracks, you don't just patch it. You hire a proctor.

Which brings us to the joke the Verge couldn't resist, and fair enough: at least AI has created one job. The student chaperone is back, clipboard in hand, patrolling the rows like a supply teacher who's heard everything.

There's something genuinely sad in here if you look for it. The honour code wasn't naive, it was a bet on human character. Princeton ran that bet for longer than most countries have had the telephone. It lost it to a chatbot.