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Dartmouth Provost Resigns Over AI Use in Writing
Confirmed
In Short: Santiago Schnell, Dartmouth College's provost, resigned on October 28, 2026, following an investigation into his use of artificial intelligence (AI) in his writings.
Santiago Schnell, Dartmouth College's provost, resigned on October 28, 2026, following an investigation into his use of artificial intelligence (AI) in his writings.
The investigation, initiated after The Dartmouth reported that Schnell's writings were flagged as 'AI-written' by Pangram, a leading AI-detection tool, found that Schnell had used AI extensively in his work.
Despite his warnings, Schnell admitted to using chatbots for 'language refinement, copyediting, improving clarity and organization, and making writing processes more efficient,' according to a statement to The Dartmouth.
The committee investigating Schnell's AI use found that he showed 'insufficient cooperation' during the investigation, as he did not turn over logs from his personal LLM accounts related to the writings in question.
Dartmouth will have an interim provost through 2028, according to College President Sian Leah Beilock.
Background
Santiago Schnell, Dartmouth College's provost, resigned on October 28, 2026, following an investigation into his use of artificial intelligence (AI) in his writings.
What's confirmed
- Santiago Schnell, Dartmouth College's provost, resigned on October 28, 2026, following an investigation into his use of artificial intelligence (AI) in his writings.
- The investigation, initiated after The Dartmouth reported that Schnell's writings were flagged as 'AI-written' by Pangram, a leading AI-detection tool, found that Schnell had used AI extensively in his work.
- Despite his warnings, Schnell admitted to using chatbots for 'language refinement, copyediting, improving clarity and organization, and making writing processes more efficient,' according to a statement to The Dartmouth.
- The committee investigating Schnell's AI use found that he showed 'insufficient cooperation' during the investigation, as he did not turn over logs from his personal LLM accounts related to the writings in question.
- Dartmouth will have an interim provost through 2028, according to College President Sian Leah Beilock.
What's still developing
- “If students at Dartmouth used AI to write an entire paper without acknowledgement and then submitted it to their professor, they would be in clear violation of the Academic Honor Principle,” Moyse wrote.
- In a statement to The Dartmouth, Schnell fessed up to using chatbots in his writing process, though he still claimed ultimate authorship over his manuscripts and insisted that AI only had a modest influence on the final product, using it solely for tweaks like “language refinement” and copyediting.
- “I am fully responsible for any text under my signature,” he asserted.
- The committee also used “available records” of Schnell’s communications with peers and reviewers regarding his AI use, in addition to his chat history with Dartmouth Claude enterprise.
- “It just goes against all the values of our institution and the concept of academia,” Eli Moyse, a Dartmouth senior studying government and creative writing, said in an interview with the Times.
- “Obviously, I am against AI writing. And yet I feel whiplash here,” said Jennifer Frey, a Catholic philosopher at the University of Virginia, on social media.
- Breitbart News previously reported on the “Cobra Effect” of AI detection tools, which are causing students to write simpler and less descriptive essays: Writing instructors and students across educational institutions are discovering an unintended consequence of AI detection tools: rather than simply identifying machine-generated text, these systems are fundamentally reshaping student writing practices in concerning ways.