Have you ever submitted your essay through an AI detector, only to have it come back flagged as AI-generated? Quite scary.
When I heard that a student from the University of North Georgia was placed on academic probation and lost her scholarship because of using Grammarly, I was taken aback.
I’ve been using Grammarly since elementary school. As someone who was in ESL throughout elementary school, this was one way I could verify my grammar was correct. It was even encouraged by some of my teachers to download it.
But there’s no question about it; Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a powerful tool that has become an integral part of the modern world.
A 2024 survey conducted by the Digital Education Council found that 86% of students use AI in their academic studies, with 24% reporting daily use of AI.
Therefore, as a response to the use of AI by students, many professors have turned to AI detectors to help ensure academic integrity.
According to a report from the Center for Democracy and Technology, approximately 68% of teachers indicate that they’re more likely to use an AI content detection tool regularly.
But AI detectors have proven to be faulty. And those paying the price are students.
According to an article from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, AI detectors have a high error rate, which can lead instructors to accuse students of misconduct falsely. For example, OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, quietly shut down its own AI detection tool due to its poor accuracy.
As a result of the inaccuracy of AI detectors, many students have been falsely accused of using AI in their academic work, leading to failing grades, loss of scholarships, academic probation, and even lawsuits.
AI detectors have also been known to affect non-English speakers negatively.
A study from Stanford University found that AI detectors flagged more than half of Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) essays, written by non-native English students, as AI-generated.
Due to the inaccuracy of AI detectors, I firmly believe that professors shouldn’t rely heavily on this software to verify the authenticity of their students’ work. College students already suffer from high stress due to a heavy course load; we don’t need the added stress of being falsely accused of using AI.
Instead, professors should adjust the way they distribute assignments.
For example, instead of giving students a rubric and having them write an essay, they should require outlines and drafts before turning in their final essay. This way, professors can see that students are using their own thoughts and words to write their essays, rather than relying on AI.
However, until professors decide to stop using AI detectors, we will continue to see stories of students whose academic careers are ruined due to the inaccuracy of this software.