Olivia Dunne posts TikTok promoting use of AI for writing college essays, LSU issues warning

LSU gymnast and social media star Olivia Dunne has stirred controversy for posting a TikTok video promoting an artificial intelligence service to write essays.

In the post to her account, Dunne created a ten second video promoting Caktus.ai with text in the video reading, ‘Need to get my creativity flowing for my essay due at midnight.’

She then showed off the bot’s capabilities to write paragraphs in the video tagged as a ‘paid partnership’.

The caption on the video read, ‘@caktus.ai will provide real resources for you to cite at the end of your essays and paragraphs ;)’

This video drew criticism in the comments underneath it, but also led to a notice being sent out to students on LSU’s main campus in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The statement did not specifically mention Dunne.

LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne posted a paid promotion for an AI service to help write essays

Dunne, a junior, indirectly suggested the use of the technology for completing school work 

‘At LSU, our professors and students are empowered to use technology for learning and pursuing the highest standards of academic integrity,’ the school’s statement said. 

‘However, using AI to produce work that a student then represents as one’s own could result in a charge of academic misconduct, as outlined in the Code of Student Conduct.’ 

While the university’s code of conduct doesn’t specifically have a punishment for the use of artificial intelligence, the school does count plagiarism as academic misconduct.

According to the university, plagiarism is defined as the, ‘lack of appropriate citation, or the unacknowledged inclusion of someone else’s words, structure, ideas, or data; failure to identify a source, or the submission of essentially the same work for two assignments without permission of the Instructor.’

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, particularly for her social media work. 

The 20-year-old has become a social media sensation after posting flirty photos to Instagram and lip-sync videos to TikTok and has amassed a net worth of $2.3 million thanks to her gymnastics and sponsorship deals. 

The New Jersey native first started participating in gymnastics at the age of three – and she is now one of the top earners in collegiate sport. 

 Dunne has been twice named an Academic All-American & to the SEC’s academic Honor Roll

The sports star first started participating in gymnastics at the age of three – and she is now one of the top earners in collegiate sport with a reported net worth of $2.3 million thanks to her gymnastics, as well as her many lucrative sponsorship deals 

In addition to her success as an athlete, she has also found fame as a well-known star on TikTok , where she regularly documents her her lavish lifestyle with her nearly seven million followers

In addition to her success as an athlete, she has also found fame as a well-known star on TikTok, where she regularly documents her her lavish lifestyle with her nearly seven million followers. 

Dunne is now among several female athletes joining the rank of millionaires through name, image and likeness (NIL) deals. 

After college athletes were allowed to enter such deals last years, there has been an upward trend of female athletes showing off candid and flirty posts to secure millions of social media followers that boosts endorsement deals. 

Dunne’s large wealth stems from this rise as an influencer, where she posts sponsored ads on her social media pages flooded with pics of the gymnast showing off her body. 

Some of her recent deals have been with American Eagle Outfitters and Vuori activewear. 

Dunne is now among several female athletes joining the rank of millionaires through NIL deals 

She has previously landed sponsorships with clothing companies like American Eagle and Forever 21 (left), as well as the app Nate (right)

Dunne grew her social media following by sharing an inside look at her glamorous life as an NCAA gymnast – becoming the most-followed collegiate athlete on the web with more than 2.3 million followers on Instagram and 6.3 million on TikTok. 

But she wasn’t initially allowed to make any money from her internet endeavors, due to the NCAA’s strict policy about its members selling sponsorships.

That is, until June 30, 2021, when the organization changed its rules, announcing that it would allow its athletes to earn a profit off of their name, image, and likeness.

One month later, Olivia signed with Endeavor Talent Agency’s WME Sports, and in September, she announced that she had landed a partnership with activewear brand Vuori – which Forbes reported was worth ‘mid-six figures.’

And while she was quickly flooded with opportunities from other companies who wanted to work with her, she told the outlet that she was going to be picky, and only choose ones that were ‘authentic to her.’