Voice from the past: how one university is countering AI with ancient examination techniques

Conversation-based assessments the University of South Australia are helping lecturers better determine their students’ understanding of subjects. Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/The Guardian

Over millennia, debating the issues of the day has evolved as a rite of passage to graduate from university in Europe and parts of the Muslim world.

A town square in the ancient world might not be the most obvious place to tackle the challenges of artificial intelligence facing universities. But the oral tradition of viva voce, which from Latin translates as “word of mouth”, is being adopted as a more accurate way to test knowledge in the age of chatbots, cheating and commercialisation.