Recent discussion posts got me wondering if using ChatGPT is/should be considered cheating. For reference, here is a quote from the contest rules:

Below actions are deemed contest violations:

• One user submitting with multiple accounts during a contest. LCUS (leetcode.com) account and LCCN (leetcode-cn.com) account are considered to be separate accounts, even if both accounts belong to the same user.
• Multiple accounts submitting similar code for the same problem.
• Creating unwanted disturbances which interrupt other users' participation in a contest.
• Disclosing contest solutions in public discuss posts before the end of a contest.

ChatGPT does not involve multiple accounts, unwanted disturbances, or public disclosure (items 1, 3, and 4). However, if several people use ChatGPT for the same problem, it will likely imply a violation of item 2. At the same time, there is no established notion of similarity, so to prove that several supposedly autogenerated codes come from the same engine is tricky. Besides, even genuine solutions to easy problems are often similar.

More importantly, I am not sure that autogenerating code should be considered a violation. Firstly, many developers use it (not necessarily AI-based) at work, so it is a related skill. One may even argue it is similar to auto-completion by pressing a tab. Secondly, if a problem is solvable with ChatGPT, then it is likely a boring template problem that doesn't deserve to be used in a competition in the first place. Is it a good idea to rank people based on such questions? I don't think so.

Let me know what you think in the comments down below!