A Berkeley mathematician changes homework grading as AI complicates assessment

Richard Borcherds told the Daily Californian he now gives credit for completion; the change concerns his teaching, not a university-wide policy.

UC Berkeley mathematics professor Richard Borcherds has stopped awarding homework marks based on correctness, telling the Daily Californian that widespread AI use made that approach less meaningful. The student newspaper published its interview on October 23.

Borcherds said he now gives credit when students submit the work, while acknowledging that completion-based grading is an imperfect solution. This is an account of his own teaching practice, not a university-wide decision to stop grading assignments.

Correct answers do not reveal how they were produced

The issue is the relationship between an assignment’s visible result and the understanding it is intended to measure. If software supplies the answer, a conventional mark may tell an instructor less about what the student can independently do.

That does not mean every use of an AI tool undermines learning. It does mean the permitted assistance and the purpose of an exercise need to be clear.

Course policies remain local

Anne Marie Richard, Berkeley’s assistant vice provost for undergraduate education and chief academic technology officer, told the paper that faculty are asked to state expectations for AI use in syllabuses. Individual policies vary by course level and subject.

She also said campus trials had not found AI-detection tools adequate for a standardised university approach. The report points to sample statements in Berkeley’s AI Hub rather than a single rule for every class.

Borcherds’ broader predictions about the future of mathematics are his views. The concrete development is a change in assessment by one instructor, alongside an institution still leaving course-specific choices to faculty. It illustrates how AI can force a reconsideration of what coursework is meant to demonstrate.

Sources

- [AI use leads UC Berkeley math professor to see no point in grading homework](https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/academics/ai-use-leads-uc-berkeley-math-professor-to-see-no-point-in-grading-homework/article_bdf1eae2-c08b-491f-b9f1-81a7cea177de.html) — The Daily Californian / Audrey Baime