LSU gymnast and social media star Olivia Dunne has sparked controversy for posting a TikTok video promoting an artificial intelligence essay writing service.
In the post on her account, Dunne created a 10-second video promoting Caktus.ai, with text in the video reading “I need to get my creativity flowing for my essay due at midnight.”
She then demonstrated the bot’s ability to write paragraphs in the video, labeled as “paid partnership.”
The video’s caption read: “@caktus.ai provides you with real resources to cite at the end of your essays and paragraphs ;)”
This video drew criticism from the comments below, but also prompted a notice to be sent out to students at LSU’s main campus in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Dunne was not specifically mentioned in the statement.
LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne posted a paid advertisement for an AI service to help with essay writing
Dunne, a junior, indirectly suggested using the technology to get schoolwork done
“At LSU, our professors and students are empowered to use technology to learn and to pursue the highest standards of academic integrity,” the school’s statement said.
“However, using AI to create work that a student then presents as their own could result in a charge of academic misconduct, as outlined in the Code of Student Conduct.”
While the university’s code of conduct does not provide an explicit penalty for using artificial intelligence, the school counts plagiarism as academic misconduct.
According to the university, plagiarism is defined as “the lack of an appropriate citation or the unacknowledged incorporation of another person’s words, structure, ideas, or data; Failure to identify a source or submitting essentially the same work for two assignments without the instructor’s permission.’
Dunne, a junior, was twice named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll and was also selected as a WCGA Academic All-American.
She is considered one of the most influential college athletes, especially for her social media work.
The 20-year-old has become a social media sensation after posting flirty photos on Instagram and lip-sync videos on TikTok, and has amassed a net worth of $2.3 million thanks to her gymnastics and sponsorship deals.
The New Jersey native started gymnastics at the age of three – and is now one of the top earners in college sports.
Dunne was twice named an Academic All-American and was named to the SEC’s Academic Honor Roll
The sports star started gymnastics at the age of three — and today, thanks to her gymnastics and her many lucrative sponsorship deals, is one of the top earners in collegiate sports with a reported net worth of $2.3 million
In addition to her achievements as an athlete, she has also made a name for herself as a well-known star on TikTok, where she regularly documents her lavish lifestyle with her almost seven million followers
In addition to her achievements as an athlete, she has also made a name for herself as a well-known star on TikTok, where she regularly documents her lavish lifestyle with her almost seven million followers.
Dunne is now among several female athletes who are rising to the ranks of millionaires through name, image and likeness (NIL) deals.
After allowing collegiate athletes to make such deals in recent years, there has been an uptick in female athletes sporting candid and flirtatious posts to garner millions of social media followers, 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 inundated with images 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 to rise to the ranks of millionaires through NIL deals
She has previously landed sponsorship deals with apparel companies such as American Eagle and Forever 21 (left) and the app Nate (right).
Dunne grew her fan base on social media by sharing a glimpse into her glamorous life as an NCAA gymnast — and became the web’s most-followed collegiate athlete with more than 2.3 million followers on Instagram and 6.3 million on TikTok .
However, due to the NCAA’s strict policy of selling sponsors, she was initially restricted from making money from her internet endeavors.
That is, until June 30, 2021, when the organization changed its rules and announced that it would allow its athletes to make a profit using their name, image and likeness.
A month later, Olivia signed with Endeavor Talent Agency’s WME Sports and announced in September that she had partnered with activewear brand Vuori – which, according to Forbes, was worth “a mid-six figure sum”.
And while she was quickly inundated with opportunities from other companies who wanted to work with her, she told the outlet she would be picky and only pick those that were “authentic to her.”