LinkedIn cofounder to students on why ChatGPT will make tests harder to cheat: The way students are tested is likely to ...

LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman warned students that AI tools like ChatGPT will ultimately lead to more rigorous testing methods that are harder to circumvent, not easier.

"Whether it's an essay or an oral exam or anything else — you're going to go in, and the AI examiner is going to be with you doing that," Hoffman said on his podcast "Possible." "And actually, in fact, that will be harder to fake than the pre-AI times."

The tech entrepreneur predicts that colleges will increasingly shift toward oral examinations and AI-powered testing environments that demand deeper knowledge from students.


Curriculum reform needed as students game traditional assessments

Hoffman acknowledged that students are already using AI to shortcut traditional assignments, noting the temptation is obvious: "A student goes, 'Huh, I could spend 30 hours writing an essay, or I could spend 90 minutes with my ChatGPT, Claude, Pi — whatever — prompting and generate something for that.'"

He criticized universities' resistance to updating their teaching methods, stating bluntly that "wishing for the 1950s past is a bad mistake."

Rather than fighting AI adoption, Hoffman suggests educators embrace the technology by incorporating it into their curriculum and showing students how AI-generated work often falls short of expectations.


AI skills now essential for future success

Hoffman emphasized that educators must prepare students for an AI-integrated workforce.

"The most central thing is preparing students to be capable, healthy, happy participants in the new world," he said. "And obviously your ability to engage with, deploy, leverage, utilize AI — AI agents, etc. — is going to be absolutely essential."

He suggested that oral exams, typically reserved for advanced degrees, could become more common across education levels. "To be prepared for oral exams, you've got to be across the whole zoom," Hoffman explained. "Now, let's think if every class had an oral exam essentially on it. Ooh, you're going to have to learn a whole lot more in order to do this."

"We're in a disruptive moment," Hoffman concluded, urging educators to adapt rather than resist the technological shift.