AI Plagiarism Detector Rolling Out in April

With the rise of emerging AI-driven writing services – like ChatGPT – educators can now leverage a new tool that will help them detect plagiarism in the classroom.

Turnitin, an internet-based plagiarism detector, recently developed an AI writing detector that identified 97 percent of ChatGPT and GPT3 authored writing.

The company said it plans to add this new functionality to its core writing integrity products in April 2023.

“Based on how our detection technology is performing in our lab and with a significant number of test samples, we are confident that Turnitin’s AI writing detection capabilities will give educators information to help them decide how to best handle work that may have been influenced by AI writing tools,” Turnitin Chief Product Officer Annie Chechitelli said.

“Equally important to our confidence in the technology is making the information usable and helpful and in a format that educators can use,” she said.

Turnitin’s new functionality will operate within the organization’s existing workflow so that educators will be able to analyze content and use feedback tools in the same user experience they currently have.

In the company’s lab, Turnitin noted, the new AI plagiarism detection tool has a less than 1/100 false positive rate.

“We are being very deliberate in releasing a detector that is highly accurate and trained on the largest dataset of academic writing,” said Chechitelli. “It is essential that our detector and any others limit false positives that may impact student engagement or motivation.”

In addition to the new AI-writing detection tool, Turnitin also published an AI writing resource page to support educators with teaching resources, as well as to report its progress in developing AI writing detection features.

The newly launched resource page is publicly available, and the company said it will be regularly updated with information about Turnitin’s progress in bringing detection features to market.

Turnitin experts will contribute to the expanded library of resources to help guide K-12 teachers and higher education faculty on how to adjust to an academic environment where AI writing is used. The company said it will regularly post demo and preview videos.

“We are very happy to see productive conversations taking place across the education community about academic integrity and tools to ensure the authenticity of authorship,” said VP of AI for Turnitin Eric Wang.

“Teachers should use Turnitin’s detector to have fulsome conversations with students about this technology,” he continued, adding, “We will continue to develop and refine Turnitin’s detector and are confident that as AI writing evolves, our technology will keep pace with new developments and capabilities.”