A few things to note in general, related to the given state of CF:
Stopping cheaters entirely is impossible if you keep the concept of rating. The only way to stop cheaters, since they already have all given tools, is to demotivate them. If there was no concept of rating in the first place, cheaters wouldn't cheat and people that love problem solving in their heart would prosper. But then, competitive programming completely vanishes and we don't want that. That's bad for everyone, especially non-cheaters that are still motivated by rank.
A copy-paste prevent system and code comparison system could be implemented, maybe with a code correspondence percentage checker. However cheaters can always simply change variable name, syntax, code style, etc.
Even if we're able to block cheating one way, cheaters will always find another way. It goes for all sports and competitive activities. Plus, identifying cheating is very vague in most cases. Everyone has different coding styles that are funky in their own way. A one-by-one approach can never work.
What I'm trying to say is preventing cheating is impossible. So instead, proving you're not a cheater could perhaps be the better way to approach the problem.
Let's say you want to rank up to CM+ and prove yourself to people. At this point you can participate in Div. 1 contests where contests are set more carefully and the difficulty prevents LLMs from solving a decent amount for now. But Div. 2 is hell. But non-cheaters that are good enough are able to break through the barrier and get to Div. 1. But we don't want Div. 2 cheaters, now at Div. 1 talking about how they made their way out of Div. 2 with effort.
So how about you record yourself and provide genuine proof you're not a cheater? Provide proof that you actually put effort and you deserved your rank? It feels much better to be able to talk about your rank if it's clear you earned it yourself with justice. This is especially true when you're not an OI high ranking genius or a veteran that started at age 7 that can easily go past Div. 2 and get to Div. 1, but rather a hardstuck green cyan blue and you're trying to get better starting as a teenager or young adult that's easily influenced by ranking systems.
At least that's what I think, and that's what I've been doing. I spent the past year studying problem solving on different online judges, and when I first came to CF I was dumbfounded by the pressure. I can be honest and say I used ChatGPT on my first contest to come up with a GCD function format and DSU format. You can literally go to my first contest and check A and C. Am I ashamed? Yeah, and I hated that feeling so I started to take measures to prevent myself from cheating. It's easy to be tempted to cheat, since it's very easy to hide.
So I made a youtube channel and started posting all my live performance, along with what I'm studying during other times to motivate myself. You guys can go check out floppa_inspector on youtube if you're curious. Am I now Master just because I did this method? No, but I definitely feel the method making me more productive. I'm trying to say that the concept is significantly effective and it would work for the pursuit of a better future for CF.
There are many positive effects from this. I think the most important is that
- Deter yourself from cheating
Because problem solving is about getting better and self-improvement. But also does:
Proves to everyone that you are not a cheater if you later want to show others
Encourages you to try your best during contests
Contributes to a potential community of honest coders that really want to improve
Let's you be more humble
This is especially better for Div. 2, 3 ranked participants that have problems with motivation, since the less motivated you are the more likely you are to cheat. But with this way you're less likely to cheat and inversely more motivated to do better.
So if we're able to make an environment where we're able to prove that we're not cheaters, make our way to higher divisions, and set problems in a way to deter AI usage, I think the future wouldn't be as dark as people say on recent blogs and comments, especially with how the most recent Div. 2 round was like #hopeforces
