LOS ANGELES—Reports of fake “bot students”—computer programs that imitate or replace human users online—continue to circulate in the Los Angeles Community College District with estimates of thousands of the accounts suspected of enrolling to receive financial aid or COVID-19 relief grants, according to Professor Kim Rich at Pierce College.
Rich, who teaches Criminal Justice, has spent the last year investigating bot enrollment in the district by combing through class rosters and reaching out to administrators to what she says is a growing issue.
