Top scorer on South Korea's tax accountant exam admits cheating with a hidden camera and generative AI

The top scorer on South Korea's national tax accountant qualification exam has admitted cheating with electronic devices and generative AI, Korea JoongAng Daily reports. In a video posted on November 15 by his lawyer, the masked examinee said he photographed exam questions with a miniature camera, sent the images to an AI system and checked the answers on a smartphone, in both stages of the exam.

He scored 397.5 out of 400 on the first stage in April, answering 159 of 160 questions correctly, at a time when the average score on introductory tax law was just 30.18 out of 100. He also ranked first in the essay-based second stage in July. After he shared his results on his blog, fellow examinees and tax accountants suspected he had used AI glasses; he first denied cheating.

The examinee has submitted a written confession to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, which assigned the case to a special detective unit on Sunday. He also admitted using the same method on the first stage of the national public accountant exam. The tax exam is run by the Human Resources Development Service of Korea, which said two proctors had been assigned to the room.