$220 a page… for an AI report.

I-Team: 95% of $400k CSCU report most likely written by AI

Channel 3

Connecticut taxpayers may have just paid around $220 a page for a report written mostly by AI.

For the past year, former CSCU chancellor Terrence Cheng has been working on a report to help improve the state’s colleges and universities.

Cheng was tasked with writing this report as the main role of his job as a special advisor to the board of regents.

Cheng stepped down as chancellor after a state audit found thousands of dollars in questionable spending on things like meals and entertainment.

The I-Team previously uncovered Cheng stopped going to board meetings when he became the special advisor.

Both CSCU and Governor Ned Lamont told the I-Team Cheng’s new job didn’t require going to meetings because he was busy all year working on a report on national best practices to help improve the CSCU system.

That report on national best practices was released on Friday June 26th.

The report is 2007 pages, and in it Cheng is transparent that he used AI throughout the process.

On page 1, Cheng writes he used AI to “aggregate and synthesize great volumes of data and resources”.

Cheng also wrote, “AI was used through multiple rounds of editing and revision to copy edit and scrutinize the content.”

The I-Team used two of the tools Cheng said he used as well, ChatGPT and Claude.

The I-Team asked both AI tools to review the report and analyze it to see what percentage was written with artificial intelligence.

Claude created pie charts that explain if you look at both word count and page count more than 95% of the report was AI-generated.

Claude’s analysis found the first 102 pages, the main analytical report, were written by Cheng but he most likely used AI for editing and gap-filling.

ChatGPT found something similar summarizing its findings by saying “approximately 95–97% of the full pdf appears to consist of ai-generated or originally ai-produced materials, primarily in part v. The main report body appears to be human-directed but substantially ai-assisted through drafting, editing, synthesis, and quality-control passes.”

“If it’s that degree of AI generated, then I’m going to ask for our taxpayer money back,” said state senator Jeff Gordon.

Gordon is one of the republicans who has been questioning Cheng’s special advisor position and the salary that went with it.

Cheng kept his chancellor salary of more than $400,000 a year.

Gordon says he’s still reading through the report but says he expected more for that amount of money.

“That’s extremely concerning to come up with a report that heavily dependent on AI. I don’t consider that a good report at all, and I wouldn’t trust it,” said Gordon.

The I-Team reached out to the governor for his thoughts on the report.

Cathryn Vaulman, the director of communications for the Office of Governor Ned Lamont, provided the below statement.

“Governor Lamont’s focus is on ensuring the CSCU system is doing everything it can to deliver strong outcomes for students and their communities. The board of regents will review the report and determine how national best practices and recommendations in the report can help inform their ongoing work and future discussions.”

Cheng’s time as special advisor to the board officially ends on June 30th, but he will continue to stay on the state’s payroll.

As part of his original chancellor contract, Cheng now becomes a tenured professor at Western.

He’ll be making $121,000 a year as a professor in the creative and professional writing department.

Western does not have a standard AI policy, allowing each professor to set the rules and guidelines for their classes, so Cheng will decide if his students will get to use AI like he did.

The I-Team has repeatedly asked to sit down with Cheng to talk about his work over the past year, but we have not been given the opportunity for an interview.

He also doesn’t have an office and has not been to any public meetings or events, so the I-Team have been unable to take our questions to him directly.

We reached out again to him personally for this story after his report was released but have not heard back.

https://www.wfsb.com/2026/06/29/i-team-95-400k-cscu-report-most-likely-written-by-ai/