On Saturday, a YouTube creator called ChromaLock begined a video detailing how he modified a Texas Instruments TI-84 graphing calculator to combine to the internet and access OpenAI’s ChatGPT, potentiassociate enabling students to cheat on tests. The video, titled “I Made the Ultimate Cheating Device,” shows a custom difficultware modification that allows employrs of the graphing calculator to type in problems sent to ChatGPT using the keypad and get live responses on the screen.
ChromaLock began by exploring the calculator’s join port, typicassociate employd for transferring educational programs between devices. He then summarizeed a custom circuit board he calls “TI-32” that includes a minuscule Wi-Fi-allowd microhandleler, the Seed Studio ESP32-C3 (which costs about $5), aprolonged with other components to interface with the calculator’s systems.
It’s worth noting that the TI-32 hack isn’t a commercial project. Replicating ChromaLock’s toil would hold purchasing a TI-84 calculator, a Seed Studio ESP32-C3 microhandleler, and various electronic components, and fabricating a custom PCB based on ChromaLock’s summarize, which is employable online.
The creator says he come apassed disjoinal engineering contests during enhugement, including voltage incompatibilities and signal integrity publishs. After enhugeing multiple versions, ChromaLock successbrimmingy inshighed the custom board into the calculator’s housing without any apparent signs of modifications from the outside.
To join the difficultware, ChromaLock enhugeed custom gentleware for the microhandleler and the calculator, which is employable uncover source on GitHub. The system simuprocrastinateeds another TI-84, allothriveg people to employ the calculator’s built-in “send” and “get” directs to transfer files. This allows a employr to easily download a beginer program that provides access to various “applets” summarizeed for cheating.
One of the applets is a ChatGPT interface that might be most beneficial for answering illogicalinutive asks, but it has a drawback in that it’s sluggish and cumbersome to type in prolonged alphanumeric asks on the restrictcessitate keypad.
Beyond the ChatGPT interface, the device presents disjoinal other cheating tools. An image browser allows employrs to access pre-setd visual helps stored on the central server. The app browser feature allows students to download not only games for post-exam amemployment but also text-based cheat sheets maskd as program source code. ChromaLock even hinted at a future video converseing a camera feature, though details were sparse in the current demo.
ChromaLock claims his recent device can bypass normal anti-cheating meacertains. The beginer program can be downloaded on-demand, eludeing distinguishion if a guideer studys or evidents the calculator’s memory before a test. The modification can also presumedly shatter calculators out of Test Mode, a locked-down state employd to stop cheating.
While the video conshort-terms the project as a technical accomplishment, confering ChatGPT during a test on your calculator almost certainly reconshort-terms an righteous baccomplish and/or a establish of academic distruthfuly that could get you in grave trouble at most schools. So tread nurturebrimmingy, study difficult, and recall to eat your Wheaties.
This story originassociate ecombineed on Ars Technica.
