On May 13th, UC Berkley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE) published a study authored by Igor Chirikov that examined the impact of AI on grade inflation. (Chirikov, I (2026). Artificial Intelligence and Grade Inflation. CSHE Higher Education Working Paper Series, Vol. 26-3.) The study analyzed more than half a million grades from 2018 to 2025 at a large public university in Texas.
Chirikov compared classes with more AI-exposed tasks, primarily humanities and engineering disciplines, with those with less AI-exposed tasks. He found that through 2022 (ChatGPT’s launch) there was little difference between the two groups. Thereafter, the number of “A” grades increased in those disciplines with more AI-exposed tasks with professors giving 30% more A’s and fewer A-minus and B-plus grades.
The study’s results suggest that students have relied on generative AI to do better in their coursework. As Chirikov points out, however, the increase does not necessarily correlate with students learning more.
The study can be found here:https://escholarship.org/uc/item/80x8d3qd.