Berkeley Professor Admits AI Edited 2,000-Word Op-Ed on Math Deficits
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 20
Berkeley Professor Admits AI Edited 2,000-Word Op-Ed on Math Deficits
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 20
Summary
Zvezdelina Stankova said AI helped edit her 2,000-word San Francisco Standard op-ed after student journalists flagged its wording and Pangram estimated 33% was AI-generated or assisted.
Stankova said the piece still reflected “several hundred person-hours” of human work, including about 80 of her own, and that AI was used to find documents while analysis came from her team.
The op-ed argued UC’s test-blind admissions left some Berkeley math students five to eight years behind and that severe calculus-readiness deficits tripled after standardized tests were dropped.
The Standard said humans must stand behind every article it publishes, while UC AI council member Camille Crittenden said AI-detection tools often remain unreliable despite Pangram’s claimed 99.66% accuracy.
The disclosure has widened debate over both academic AI use and restoring SAT or ACT requirements at UC, where a senate review could affect admissions no earlier than fall 2028.