AI sends A grades into overdrive

Axios · May 16, 2026 · 427 words · By Josephine Walker

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What to know about AI sends A grades into overdrive

Some college classes are seeing a boom in students earning A's — many with the help of AI.

Claims checked 7

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center80%

Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Some college classes are seeing a boom in students earning A's — many with the help of AI.

Why it matters

Why it matters: Universities and colleges were already concerned about how many students are earning A's and B's, but now must worry that graduates are leaving AI-proficient rather than knowledgeable about their subjects of study.

Common ground

The big picture: It isn't a case where A- students get a slight bump to an A or A+,saysIgor Chirikov, a UC Berkeley professor who authored a study on AI and grade inflation.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: AI sends A grades into overdrive?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that In classes where it's not — like sculpture and lab-based courses — grades remained flat?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.axios.com/2026/05/16/ai-grade-inflation-college-classes

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 7 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

info Single Source 3

verified Verified By Reference 3

check_circle Corroborated 1

info

Claim 1: “In classes where it's not — like sculpture and lab-based courses — grades remained flat.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of general information about grading systems and Gradescope, but does not mention the specific findings of Chirikov's study regarding sculpture or lab-based courses.

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web search NEUTRAL — Gradescope supports variable-length assignments (problem sets & projects) as well as fixed-template assignments (worksheets, quizzes, bubble sheets, and exams).
https://www.gradescope.com/

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web search NEUTRAL — Grades and GPA The GPA Calculation Grade Point Average (GPA) is calculated by determining the total point value of your letter grade and dividing by the number of credits attempted.
https://registrar.wsu.edu/grades-and-gpa/

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web search NEUTRAL — In the United States, academic grading commonly takes on the form of five, six or seven letter grades. Traditionally, the grades are A+, A, A−, B+, B, B−, C+, C, C−, D+, D, D− and F, with A+ being the…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_grading_in_the_United…

verified

Claim 2: “Since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, "excellent" grades rose by 30% in classes where AI is useful, such as English composition and coding.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

While the evidence confirms the existence of the study by Igor Chirikov, the provided search results for this specific claim are irrelevant (YouTube English lessons, Coursera, Wikipedia entries on LLMs) and do not contain the 30% statistic or specific course details.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A large language model (LLM) is a neural network trained on a vast amount of text for natural language processing tasks, especially language generation. LLMs can generate, summarize, translate and par…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_language_model

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Microsoft Copilot is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Microsoft AI, a division of Microsoft. Based on OpenAI's GPT-4 and GPT-5 series of large language models, it was launched…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Copilot

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — AI content watermarking is the process of embedding imperceptible yet detectable signals into content generated by artificial intelligence systems, such as text, images, audio, or video. The technique…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_content_watermarking

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 3: “citing data from grades given between 2018 and 2025 at a Texas research university.”

SINGLE SOURCE

One specific web search result explicitly mentions that Igor Chirikov analyzed over 500,000 enrollments at a large Texas university from 2018 to 2025. Other sources mention the study but not the specific date range or location.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Chaos theory is an interdisciplinary area of scientific study and branch of mathematics. It focuses on underlying patterns and deterministic laws of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to init…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory

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web search NEUTRAL — Now, Chirikov says, an A grade might mean that a student has access to a more advanced technology model, or is better at using it—rather than measuring the underlying skill. Few job postings on the en…
https://www.livemint.com/global/a-grades-are-suddenly-everyw…

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web search NEUTRAL — As part of the study, UC Berkeley senior researcher Igor Chirikov analyzed over 500,000 student-course enrollments across 84 departments at a large Texas university from 2018 to 2025. He found that gr…
https://gizmodo.com/students-are-learning-less-and-getting-h…

+ 1 more evidence source

verified

Claim 4: “Excellent grades have been on the rise since the early 2000s”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence contains general Wikipedia entries on grading and a movie called Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, but no data confirming a trend of rising 'excellent' grades since the early 2000s.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is a 1989 American science fiction comedy film directed by Stephen Herek and written by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon. The first installment of the Bill & Ted franchis…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_&_Ted's_Excellent_Adventu…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Excellent may refer to: Excellent (album), by Propaganda, 2012 "Excellent", a song by Sunday Service Choir from the 2019 album Jesus Is Born "Excellent", a catchphrase of Mr. Burns in the cartoon The…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excellent

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil an…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_British_Empire

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 5: “Igor Chirikov, a UC Berkeley professor who authored a study on AI and grade inflation.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent web search results confirm that Igor Chirikov is a senior researcher at UC Berkeley who authored a study titled 'Artificial Intelligence and Grade Inflation'.

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web search NEUTRAL — “Artificial Intelligence and Grade Inflation,” by Igor Chirikov, a senior researcher at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California at Berkeley, analyzed 500,000 grades …
https://www.chronicle.com/newsletter/teaching/2026-05-14

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web search NEUTRAL — Chirikov isolated AI-caused grade inflation from improved student performance resulting from AI tutoring and “sorting” – stronger students choosing courses that are easier to complete with AI assistan…
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=202605140…

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web search NEUTRAL — Those "AI-exposed" classes, common in humanities and engineering, saw especially sharp jumps when they relied on take-home work. The paper's author, Igor Chirikov, says the pattern suggests students a…
https://www.newser.com/story/389152/college-a-grades-surged-…

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Claim 6: “Chirikov found that classes that place more weight on homework assignments than on in-class exams see higher rates of grade inflation.”

SINGLE SOURCE

One web search result mentions that 'AI-exposed' classes saw sharp jumps in grades when they 'relied on take-home work', which aligns with the claim about homework weight vs exams, but this is not corroborated by a second independent source in the provided text.

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web search NEUTRAL — Other modern languages have the highest rate of A/A& grades at 73.8 per cent, followed by further maths at 71.1 per cent, German at 58.3 per cent and Spanish at 54.5 per cent.
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-8646367/QUARTER-GCSE-…

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web search NEUTRAL — In which Adriene and Jacob teach you about how and why prices rise. Sometimes prices rise as a result of inflation, which is a pretty normal thing for econom...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8-85cZRI9o

verified

Claim 7: “it's a "selective" school with over 50,000 students across all major academic disciplines.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence for this claim is irrelevant, discussing Boris Chirikov (a different person), study tips, and general history, with no mention of the Texas university's size or selectivity.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — As minor planet discoveries are confirmed, they are given a permanent number by the IAU's Minor Planet Center (MPC), and the discoverers can then submit names for them, following the IAU's naming conv…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meanings_of_minor-planet_names…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — During the Age of Discovery, a large scale colonization of the Americas, involving a number of European countries, took place primarily between the late 15th century and early 19th century. The Norse …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_colonization_of_the_A…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The history of the Tlingit includes pre- and post-contact events and stories. Tradition-based history includes creation stories, the Raven Cycle, migration stories of arrival in Lingít Aaní, and indiv…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Tlingit

+ 3 more evidence sources

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.