Harrison Sharples, a 20-year-old medical student at the University of St Andrews, was formally accused of generating his dissertation with artificial intelligence in August 2025, despite having written the entire piece himself. The allegation triggered a lengthy university disciplinary process that ultimately saw the charge overturned, but only after it had already disrupted his exams and delayed his graduation.
Sharples told a national broadcaster that he was stunned when an academic misconduct alert flagged his dissertation, which examined how play therapy can reduce anxiety in hospitalised children, as likely AI-generated. He said using artificial intelligence had never even crossed his mind while writing the piece.
"I tend to honestly just forget that it's an option for me to use," he said.
The university confirmed that two human markers assessed the dissertation, with one raising concerns that led to the formal allegation.
What evidence did markers cite against him?
The marker's written notes, reviewed by a national broadcaster, pointed to a "polished/uniform tone" throughout the dissertation, along with "consistent flawless grammar and similar sentence structure with no variation in style." The notes also described what the marker called a "formulaic paragraph structure that follows a typical AI pattern of 'general claim, the example/result, and conclusion.'"
Additional observations flagged repetitive phrasing, an absence of "nuanced critique," and frequent use of em dashes, a punctuation style often associated with AI-generated text. Separately, an account from a student newspaper described the case against Sharples as internally inconsistent: one assessment characterised his writing as suspiciously polished, while another criticised it as oddly weak, according to a report from The Saint newspaper. That same report noted that specific vocabulary, including the words "incarcerated" and "psychopharmacology," was raised as a point of concern during the hearing.
How did the disciplinary hearings unfold?
Sharples was called to a virtual hearing before a panel from the university's school of medicine to respond to the allegations. He said he had prepared thoroughly, but the link to join the hearing failed to arrive on time, only reaching him five minutes after it was scheduled to begin.
"At this point, I'm extremely nervous about it because I'm thinking this is my one chance to prove myself, to redeem myself - and they're going to think that I'm just not showing up," he said.
During the roughly 30-minute hearing, Sharples was asked to define medical terminology used in his dissertation, a line of questioning he said caught him off guard.
"I was so shook up about my start to the hearing," he said. "I don't think I represented myself completely well."
A week later, the university informed him that the AI misconduct allegation had been upheld. His mark was capped at seven, just enough to pass, and the finding was set to be recorded on his professional file with the General Medical Council.
"I knew nothing about getting a permanent strike on my record as a future doctor, that was the thing which pushed me to really appeal," Sharples said.
The university accepted that the late delivery of the hearing link had undermined his ability to present his case properly, and it granted him an appeal. A second hearing was arranged for mid-November, this time focused on questions about his personal approach to writing rather than terminology.
"It went a lot smoother," he said. "I think I was a lot more clear in putting across my points."
On this occasion, the panel declined to uphold the misconduct allegation.
"I felt so relieved," Sharples said. "It would just be really stressful to constantly have that strike on my record."
Sharples went on to receive full marks for the dissertation, and the case will not appear on his professional record. Even so, he said the ordeal consumed him for an entire semester and affected his academic performance, despite support from friends, his girlfriend and family in Manchester.
"There was so much time when I just didn't know what was happening and I think that is what caused me the most worry and stress about it," he said. "It was so big in my mind it didn't allow me to think about anything else. That's why I neglected my studies because I just got pushed out of operating space in my brain."
As a result, Sharples had to defer his exams to the middle of summer and postpone his graduation until December 2025.
"I would be graduating if it wasn't for what happened to me," he said.
Was Sharples the only student affected?
According to The Saint newspaper, Sharples was not alone: another student named in its reporting on false AI misconduct accusations also appealed a similar finding. Both students ultimately won their appeals, with the charges dropped and any record of the case erased from their academic transcripts.
Are AI detection methods reliable enough for universities to rely on?
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