A test-taker who stole an entire exam paper to extract answers using AI in order to secure the official English test score required to pass the certified tax accountant exam has ultimately faced legal punishment.
The Busan District Court's Western Branch sentenced A, who was put on trial on charges of theft and obstruction of business, to six months in prison suspended for one year, along with an order for 80 hours of community service.
A, who was preparing for the tax accountant exam, devised a meticulous and daring act of cheating after failing to achieve the minimum required score of 65 on the official English test.
A's crimes were repeated twice in March and April at a middle school testing site in Sasang-gu, Busan, taking advantage of moments when the test headquarters director briefly left the room on the days of the exams to check proctor assignments.
Sneaking into an empty classroom, A directly opened an envelope containing advance test papers and fled with the entire test paper.
The next places A headed with the test paper in hand were a nearby gas station and a convenience store.
At the gas station and convenience store, A photographed the stolen test paper using a smartphone and entered it into Google's Gemini to find the correct answers.
Afterward, showing remarkable boldness, A entered the exam room as if nothing was wrong with the answers provided by the AI densely written in ballpoint pen on the right palm, and took the regular exam.
The court pointed out, "The fact that A's crimes were repeated twice and the methods were extremely bold makes the nature of the offenses very severe," adding that "they significantly undermined the fairness and reliability of examinations, which center on equal opportunity, and dealt a deep sense of despair to well-intentioned competitors."
(Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Kim Na-on | Design by Lee Jung-joo | Produced by SBS Digital News)
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