Action Recommended: New AI Browsers Can Complete Canvas Quizzes. Here’s How to Secure Them.
By Dr. Joseph Brown, Director of the CSU Academic Integrity Program
This tip outlines an urgent security and academic integrity issue with Canvas assessments and the single, most effective step you can take to address it.
What You Need to Know
- The Problem: New, widely available AI-powered browsers (like Perplexity or Atlas) can successfully complete Canvas assignments, quizzes, and exams, even acing them from a simple text prompt.
- The Solution: The Academic Integrity Program recommends using the built-in Respondus Lockdown Browser for all Canvas-based assessments to prevent this.
- How to Enable It: TILT provides full instructions for you and your students. In short, you create your quiz, associate it with Respondus, and inform your students.
Why This Is Urgent: See It In Action
These new “agentic” browsers don’t just find answers; they can manipulate the quiz page itself to select answers and re-order items.
In case you need convincing, I’ve recorded a short video of one of these browsers scoring a 5/5 on a sample quiz in a class I teach.
This is impactful because this technology operates within the same browser where they take the quiz.
The Technical Details: How This Works
For those interested, here is a brief explanation of the technology.
- Fully “Agentic” Browsers (e.g., Perplexity): An “agentic” browser can manipulate your browser for Typing “Complete this quiz” causes the AI to read the questions, find the answers, and then physically (digitally) select the correct options, including complex drag-and-drop ordering questions.
- Partially “Agentic” Browsers (e.g., OpenAI’s Atlas): Other browsers, like OpenAI’s Atlas, may not select the answers for the student, but they will provide a complete answer key in a sidebar or drafts of essay questions. As you can see in this image, the student only needs to copy the answers as Atlas provided.
Both methods undermine the integrity of an un-proctored Canvas assessment.
How Do I Enable Respondus LockDown Browser?
Using Respondus is the most effective technical solution for this problem. It requires the student to use the Respondus Lockdown browser (which they will have to download).
TILT maintains a clear, step-by-step guide on using it:
The process is simple:
- Create your quiz in Canvas as you normally would.
- Go to the “Respondus Lockdown Browser” tab in your Canvas course navigation to associate the quiz with Respondus.
- Tell your students they will have to download the Respondus browser to complete the quiz (the TILT page has instructions for students).
You do not need to enable Respondus Monitor or Instructor Live Proctoring unless your quiz already requires webcam-based verification.
Where Can I Get Help?
- For technical questions (installing or configuring Respondus): We recommend first connecting with your departmental IT specialist.
- For academic integrity or teaching & learning questions (how to talk to students about this, other assessment strategies, etc.): Please feel free to contact Joseph Brown ([email protected]) or the main TILT account (at [email protected]).[1]
[1] This resource was coauthored using generative AI under the guidance of Colorado State University employees. The generative AI tool was used to assist with re-organizing content based on a full draft written by the author.
Contact Information
Joseph Brown
Director, Academic Integrity
Academic Affairs