LSU gymnast and social media star Olivia Dunne has sparked controversy for posting a TikTok video promoting an artificial intelligence service for writing essays.
In the post on her account, Dunne made a 10-second video promoting Caktus.ai with text in the video: “I need to unleash my creativity for my essay due at midnight.”
She then showed off the bot’s ability to write paragraphs in the video tagged “paid partnership.”
The caption to the video read: ‘@caktus.ai will provide real sources for you to cite at the end of your essays and paragraphs ;)’
This video drew criticism in the comments below, but also led to a message being sent to students at LSU’s main campus in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The statement did not specifically name Dunne.
LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne posted a paid promotion for an AI service to help write essays
Dunne, a junior, indirectly suggested using the technology for completing schoolwork
“At LSU, our professors and students are authorized to use technology for learning and the pursuit of the highest standards of academic integrity,” the school’s statement said.
“However, using AI to produce work that a student then represents as their own can lead to a charge of academic misconduct, as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct.”
While the university’s code of conduct does not specifically penalize the use of artificial intelligence, the school does consider plagiarism a scientific misconduct.
According to the university, plagiarism is defined as “the lack of proper attribution, or the unacknowledged inclusion of another person’s words, structure, ideas, or data; failing to identify a source, or submitting essentially the same work for two assignments without the teacher’s permission.’
Dunne, a junior, has been named to the SEC’s academic honor roll twice and has also been selected as a WCGA Academic All-American.
She is regarded as one of the most influential college athletes, mainly due to her social media work.
The 20 year old has become a social media sensation after posting flirty photos to Instagram and lip-sync videos TikTok and has amassed a net worth of $2.3 million through her gymnastics and sponsorship deals.
The New Jersey native started gymnastics at age three — and she’s now one of the top earners in collegiate sports.
Dunne has been named an Academic All-American twice and the SEC’s Academic Honor Roll
The sports star started gymnastics at the age of three – and she is now one of the top earners in collegiate sports with a reported net worth of $2.3 million thanks to her gymnastics, as well as her many lucrative sponsorship deals
Besides her success as an athlete, she has also gained fame as a well-known star on TikTok where she regularly documents her lavish lifestyle with her nearly seven million followers.
Besides her success as an athlete, she has also gained fame as a well-known star on TikTok where she regularly documents her lavish lifestyle with her nearly seven million followers.
Dunne is now one of many female athletes to join the ranks of millionaires through name, image and likeness (NIL) deals.
After college athletes were allowed to enter such deals last year, there has been an upward trend of female athletes flaunting candid and flirty posts to garner millions of followers on social media, boosting endorsement deals.
Dunne’s great wealth stems from this rise as an influencer, where she posts sponsored ads on her social media pages that are flooded with pictures of the gymnast showing off her body.
Some of her recent deals have been with American Eagle Outfitters and Vuori activewear.
Dunne is now one of many female athletes to enter the ranks of millionaires through NIL deals
She has previously landed sponsorships with apparel companies such as American Eagle and Forever 21 (left), as well as the app Nate (right)
Dunne grew her social media following by taking a look at her glamorous life as an NCAA gymnast — becoming the most-followed collegiate athlete on the internet with over 2.3 million followers on Instagram and 6.3 million on TikTok.
But initially she was not allowed to monetize her internet endeavors, due to the NCAA’s strict policy on sponsorship sales by its members.
That is, until June 30, 2021, when the organization changed its rules and announced it would allow its athletes to make a profit on their name, image, and likeness.
A month later, Olivia signed with Endeavor Talent Agency’s WME Sports, and in September announced she had partnered with activewear brand Vuori — which Forbes reported was worth “middle six figures.”
And while she was soon inundated with opportunities from other companies willing to work with her, she told the outlet that she would be picky and choose only those who were “authentic to her.”
