OMM Newsroom
A man who ranked first in this year’s certified tax accountant exam in South Korea turned himself in to police on Sunday, admitting that he used artificial intelligence to cheat, according to Anadolu Agency, citing Yonhap News.
The man, whose name has not been disclosed, said he cheated in both rounds of the exam using a miniature camera, a smartphone and generative AI.
The confession came on a lawyer’s YouTube channel after his unusually high scores prompted suspicion of cheating in online communities.
In the first round, held in April, he missed only one of 160 questions, scoring 397.5 out of a possible 400. In the second round, he scored 192 and 190 in the two accounting subjects, and 114 and 167 in the two tax law subjects.
“I cheated by taking pictures of the questions with a miniature camera, sending them to AI, and checking the answers on a smartphone,” he said. He added that he had written down what he did in a statement of voluntary surrender and submitted it to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.
He apologized and said he deeply regretted his actions. Police confirmed they had received the statement and pledged a “swift and thorough” investigation.
The Finance and Economy Ministry said it would suspend his certificate. Under South Korean law, anyone found guilty of cheating can have their exam invalidated and be barred from taking it again for five years. The case could also lead to criminal charges.
The incident is the latest in a series of AI-assisted cheating cases in South Korea, where test-takers have recently been caught using AI glasses in university entrance exams and middle- and high-school tests.
