Study shows AI-detection tools would recognise academic writing created by ChatGPT

New Delhi: The academic-style material created by ChatGPT is more sophisticated than that created by earlier innovations, but it is still fairly formulaic and would be detected by many of the current AI-detection tools.

However, according to researchers from Plymouth Marjon University and the University of Plymouth in the UK, the results should act as a wake-up call for university staff to consider how to explain to students and reduce academic dishonesty.

ChatGPT, a Large Language Machine (LLM) touted as having the potential to revolutionise research and education, has also prompted concerns across the education sector about academic honesty and plagiarism.

To address some of these, this study encouraged ChatGPT to produce content written in an academic style through a

Some of these included “Write an original academic paper, with references, describing the implications of GPT-3 for assessment in higher education”, “How can academics prevent students plagiarising using GPT-3” and “Produce several witty and intelligent titles for an academic research paper on the challenges universities face in ChatGPT and plagiarism”, the study said.

The text thus generated was pasted into a manuscript and was ordered broadly, following the structure suggested by ChatGPT. Following this, genuine references were inserted throughout, the study published in the journal Innovations in Education and Teaching International said.

This process was revealed to readers only in the academic paper’s discussion section, written directly by the researchers without the software’s input.

Launched in November 2022, ChatGPT is the latest chatbot and artificial intelligence (AI) platform and has the potential to create increasing and exciting opportunities in academics.

However, as it grows more advanced, it poses significant challenges for the academic community.

“This latest AI development obviously brings huge challenges for universities, not least in testing student knowledge and teaching writing skills – but looking positively it is an opportunity for us to rethink what we want students to learn and why.

“I’d like to think that AI would enable us to automate some of the more administrative tasks academics do, allowing more time to be spent working with student,” said the study’s lead author Debby Cotton, professor at Plymouth Marjon University.

“Banning ChatGPT, as was done within New York schools, can only be a short-term solution while we think how to address the issues.

“AI is already widely accessible to students outside their institutions, and companies like Microsoft and Google are rapidly incorporating it into search engines and Office suites.

“The chat (sic) is already out of the bag, and the challenge for universities will be to adapt to a paradigm where the use of AI is the expected norm,” said corresponding author Peter Cotton, associate professor at the University of Plymouth.

With PTI inputs