RTL Analysis Finds Signs of AI Authorship in 59% of Dutch Master's Theses

The NL Times reports that RTL Nieuws found signs of text generated by AI in 59 percent of hundreds of master's theses from 12 Dutch universities. University newspaper UKrant reports that 14 percent contained more than half text attributed to AI, while another 6 percent appeared almost entirely written by AI.

RTL used Pangram to scan 3,000 words from each thesis rather than each complete document. Master's theses typically contain 10,000 to 20,000 words. Researchers cited in the report said Pangram identifies fewer than half of texts written entirely by AI as such.

Almost half of the theses flagged as largely written by AI included declarations describing how students used the technology. Most said they used it for tasks such as brainstorming, summaries, spelling or grammar. Education Minister Rianne Letschert of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science called the use of AI to write an entire thesis fraud and said she will present a strategy before the end of 2026.