A UC Berkeley mathematics professor, Zvezdelina Stankova, has admitted to using artificial intelligence to help edit an opinion piece published in the San Francisco Standard, after student journalists flagged the article's AI-like language. The op-ed argued that some of her students were "five to eight years" behind in maths and blamed the University of California system's test-blind admissions policy, reigniting debate over whether standardised tests such as the SAT should be reinstated for admissions.

Reporters at Berkeley's student newspaper, the Daily Californian, ran the 2,000-word piece through AI-detection software Pangram, which estimated that 33% of the text had been AI-generated or AI-assisted. Stankova said the article reflected "several hundred person-hours" of work, including about 80 of her own, and that she had used AI only to locate reference material, not to conduct analysis. The Standard maintained that it expects humans to stand behind every published word, while the episode has fuelled wider debate about academics' use of AI, coinciding with a UC academic senate review into whether standardised testing should return to admissions.