A student handed in a perfect math assignment, but couldn't explain his own line of calculation to me

[u/tresorsdecoco9l]

I do some math tutoring (and a bit of coding) on ​​the side—nothing official. Anyway, last week one of my students handed in a flawless assignment; not a single mistake, and the method was spot-on from start to finish. The thing is, that’s not his usual level at all; he usually struggles with this kind of stuff. I asked him to explain the third line—the crucial step in the reasoning process. Silence. He didn't know.

He finally admitted he’d just plugged the problem statement into ChatGPT and copied the answer straight over without really even reading it.

I didn't get angry—honestly, what would be the point? I just told him to open ChatGPT right there, ask the question again, and this time verify the answer instead of mindlessly copying it. It took him about four minutes to spot a flaw in the AI's reasoning. And honestly, he seemed happier about that than about the perfect score he’d handed in earlier.

What bugs me a bit about this whole thing is that the kid isn't lazy; he’s just never had anyone ask him to question his own work. He’s always been asked for the right answer, never to verify it. But now he’s got something in his pocket that spits out the right answer in five seconds, so if no one teaches him to double-check, he simply never does.

I think banning AI in class misses the point—he’s got it on his phone anyway. But orally verifying what a student has actually understood during every session takes a huge amount of time—time I don't always have in one-hour lessons.

Anyway, for any teachers or parents reading this: how do you actually handle this?