I wonder how this affects the signaling power of college. The usual narrative is that college is supposed to signal competence, or that college today has become dumbed-down compared to in the past. But widespread or undiagnosed plagiarism 30 years ago or longer, before the advent of machine learning, means that the signal may have been weaker back then, or that college was more dumbed-down when one takes into account rampant, unnoticed cheating. I think this is it. Due to better plagiarism /cheating detection and stricter standards, the completion of college today is a better signal of competence compared to in the past.
