My colleagues and I recently spoke with a group of talented, interesting students who just completed their first year of college about using artificial intelligence as a research tool.

I asked what must have seemed like an unrelated question: “How many of you cheated in high school?”

Most of the students raised their hands. Perhaps comforted by the realization that they had plenty of company, they seemed neither embarrassed nor ashamed.

This is not the first time I’ve asked my students that question. On each occasion, the results have been pretty much the same.

By the time students end up in college classrooms, many have encountered cheating and think it makes sense in some cases to do so, because of factors like pressure to succeed.