Denmark to fight AI cheating with oral exams and screen monitoring
Facing a surge in AI-assisted cheating, Denmark is forcing upper-secondary students to defend written work aloud and putting exam computers under closer watch.
What happened: Denmark's education ministry announced immediate new rules for gymnasiet (upper secondary) students aged 16-19 to curb AI-assisted cheating. About 9,000 students who write a major home assignment each year (the SSO) will now have to defend it orally to prove they understand and produced the work themselves. Schools must also install firewalls to filter network access during exams and teaching, deploy monitoring tools to track how computers are used during written exams, and push more assignments into supervised in-class settings instead of take-home work. Education minister Magnus Heunicke called for urgent action, saying AI cheating had become a real problem in secondary schools.
Why it matters: Take-home essays and exams have long been a core way schools judge whether a student can think, argue and write independently. If AI tools can quietly produce or heavily rewrite that work, grades stop reflecting what students actually know, and teachers lose a reliable way to give feedback on genuine progress. Denmark's move signals that governments no longer see this as a minor discipline issue but as something that could erode the credibility of school qualifications themselves.
How it works, plainly: The oral defence adds a live conversation where students must explain their own reasoning and choices behind a written piece, making it harder to submit AI-generated text without understanding it. Firewalls restrict what websites or tools are reachable on school networks during test periods, and screen-monitoring software lets teachers see what students are doing on their computers in real time. Together with a push to write more essays at school under supervision, the aim is to catch AI use as it happens rather than trying to detect it after the fact.
The rollout: These three measures take effect immediately as Danish students return from summer break, with schools expected to work out oral-defence logistics on their own guidance from the ministry. A broader national strategy for AI use across all of Denmark's schools is still being developed, with Heunicke planning to consult teachers, schools and students. Neighbouring Sweden is grappling with the same trend — AI-related suspensions and warnings there jumped 688% between 2023 and 2025 — and has commissioned its own review, due to report in April.