AI smart glasses test Korea's ability to prevent CSAT cheating

With Korea’s College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) about a week away, education authorities are training staff to identify artificial intelligence (AI)-powered smart glasses amid concerns that the devices could enable cheating and prove difficult to distinguish from ordinary eyewear.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) said Wednesday it will train 239 personnel assigned to spot smart glasses at the city’s exam sites. They will be deployed across the city’s 228 exam sites for the Nov. 19 test.

Radio-frequency detectors will not be supplied for this year’s exam, leaving supervisors and trained personnel to rely largely on physical inspection. The Ministry of Education said it is considering using such equipment next year after assessing the suitability of devices currently under development.

Smart glasses can combine cameras, AI services and, in some models, lens-mounted displays to capture questions and return answers. Recent incidents at school exams and university admissions essay tests have heightened concerns about their potential use during the CSAT, which plays a significant role in determining students’ university admission prospects.

Choi Hong-won, an SMOE official, said preparations include examining different products and considering how their use might become apparent in an exam room.

“We have examined different types of AI smart glasses and prepared training materials for supervisors. We have also reinforced staffing to support them,” Choi told The Korea Times.

But many teachers remain worried.

A high school teacher in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, said visual checks might identify obvious devices but could miss more discreet ones. Metal detectors have limitations, too, because ordinary glasses can contain metal frames and components, the teacher said.

The ministry plans to assign one staff member to each of the 1,312 test sites nationwide specifically to identify smart glasses.

Under the procedures, supervisors who suspect a student is wearing smart glasses before an exam should ask the student to remove them and place them on the desk. The designated staffer will then inspect the glasses, referring unresolved cases to education authorities. Any suspicions arising during an exam session will be checked after the session ends.

“Honestly, I don’t think the current measures are enough to prevent cheating entirely,” the teacher said on condition of anonymity. “As a teacher, I am particularly concerned about students wearing ordinary glasses. In an exam like the CSAT, a single question or a momentary loss of composure can affect the outcome. Simply being suspected can place a considerable burden on a student.”

Another high school teacher in Incheon argued that blocking wireless signals would address the problem more directly, while acknowledging that doing so could disrupt network access needed to administer the exam.

They said there had been too little time to put effective, reliable safeguards in place.

The rapid development of AI has also raised questions about relying on human observations alone to prevent cheating. In a poll released last month by the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union, 82.3 percent of middle and high school teachers surveyed said it would be difficult to identify students wearing smart glasses under the ministry’s current exam supervision procedures.

All electronic devices, including AI glasses, phones, smartwatches and Bluetooth earbuds, are banned at test sites. Simply possessing AI glasses will invalidate a student’s results; wearing them during the exam will also mean a ban from the following year’s CSAT.

The ministry said it would consider filing criminal complaints against AI-glasses cheating and seek a legal amendment extending the CSAT ban for cheating from one year to three.

Korea Times reporter Park Ung contributed to this article.