AI cheating in Danish high schools will be targeted through screen-monitoring software, oral defences of written assignments and more supervised work at school. Minister for Education (undervisningsminister) Magnus Heunicke announced the three immediate measures on Thursday, 6 August, as the Danish government prepares a broader strategy for artificial intelligence across the education system.
The measures form an emergency package intended to make it more difficult for students to submit work produced by generative AI without demonstrating their own knowledge. According to TV 2 Denmark, the government believes some existing assignments and examinations no longer provide sufficiently reliable evidence of students’ abilities.
“We unfortunately have a problem with AI cheating in upper secondary education. Action is needed now, and we are beginning with these three initiatives,” Heunicke said in a press release issued by the Ministry of Education (Undervisningsministeriet) and quoted by TV 2.
How Denmark plans to detect AI cheating
One of the measures will expand the use of tools that monitor students’ computer screens during examinations. The software can record activity on a device and help schools identify the use of unauthorised websites, communication platforms or artificial intelligence services.
Several Danish upper secondary schools already use monitoring systems. However, practices have differed between institutions, creating concerns that students may face different levels of supervision depending on which school they attend.
A 2024 report by Gymnasieskolen described how some schools had introduced software capable of recording screenshots, browser activity, active programs, copied material and network connections during an examination. Schools remain responsible for ensuring that any monitoring complies with data-protection legislation.
Maja Bødtcher-Hansen, chair of the Danish Upper Secondary Schools Association (Danske Gymnasier), welcomed a more consistent approach.
“Our challenge has been that when schools do not do this in the same way, students are not treated equally. We are therefore pleased that the minister is taking responsibility for ensuring that our examinations are conducted in roughly the same way,” she told the Ritzau news agency.
Oral defence for written assignments at hf
The government will also introduce an oral defence of the major written assignment, known as the større skriftlige opgave or SSO, in the two-year higher preparatory examination programme, hf.
Students will therefore be required to discuss and explain their written work. The measure is intended to allow teachers and examiners to assess whether a student understands the arguments, methods and conclusions presented in the assignment.
Oral questioning cannot establish exactly how a text was produced, but it can reveal whether the knowledge demonstrated in a written submission corresponds to the student’s actual understanding.
Under Denmark’s existing examination rules, an examination response must be the student’s own independent work. The guidance published by the Ministry of Education defines cheating as including unauthorised assistance, prohibited communication, plagiarism and the use of tools that are not permitted during the examination.
More assignments under controlled conditions
The third initiative is a recommendation that upper secondary institutions require students to complete more written assignments at school and under supervised conditions.
Much of the concern surrounding generative AI relates to work completed at home. Teachers may find it difficult to determine which parts were written independently, which were revised with permitted digital assistance and which were generated almost entirely by an AI system.
Moving selected assignments into the classroom would give teachers more information about the writing process, rather than requiring them to assess only the finished text. It could also shift attention from detecting AI-generated language to observing how students develop an argument, use sources and revise their work.
The Danish Upper Secondary Schools Association supports the emergency package but says it will not be sufficient on its own.
“This is nowhere near enough, but upper secondary education is a large system containing many different rules and established practices, so change takes time,” Bødtcher-Hansen told Ritzau. She described the immediate measures as reasonable steps that could be introduced without waiting for a complete reform.
Danish schools are reconsidering examinations
The package follows a wider debate about whether traditional written assignments remain suitable in an education system where generative AI is widely available.
In May, Danske Gymnasier said that nine out of ten upper secondary students use AI in connection with schoolwork, citing a survey by the Danish Evaluation Institute (Danmarks Evalueringsinstitut, EVA). The association argued that schools need new examination formats capable of assessing both independent skills and the responsible use of digital tools.
It has proposed shorter written examinations without aids alongside more process-based and realistic assessments in which AI could be used under clearly defined conditions.
The Danish government has already moved some language examinations towards analogue formats. In June, the Ministry of Education announced that written examinations in several upper secondary language subjects would become wholly or partly paper-based from 2028.
Heunicke has said that students must learn to use AI appropriately while also retaining the ability to work independently.
The new screen monitoring, oral defence and supervised writing measures are therefore being presented as temporary safeguards rather than a complete answer. The government expects to introduce further initiatives and prepare a national AI strategy for the entire school and education sector.
The longer-term challenge for Denmark will be to distinguish between legitimate use of artificial intelligence and work that no longer demonstrates a student’s own abilities. That same question is increasingly confronting schools and universities across the Nordic countries and the European Union.
