Surge in false AI plagiarism accusations raises concerns in academic settings
By: Robyn Meylan
Student Submission
In recent months, usage of AI in academic settings, professional environments, and almost every sector has had a huge surge. Since the release of easy-to-use AI applications such as ChatGPT, there have been a lot of concerns about the ethics of AI use – especially in an academic setting.
While many concerns result in the urge to fully ban AI, there is a seemingly bigger issue beginning to take root: false accusations of plagiarism through AI.
With everybody’s eyes on big alerts for AI, and some AI detections giving false positives, innocent people are being accused of using AI to cheat. And it’s happening more than we think.
If you are a student in today’s classrooms, there is no doubt you have heard something about AI. Many teachers include AI statements in their syllabuses, and many have implemented AI detection tricks like Turnitin’s AI detection (which is also run by AI). There is no denying that some students do use AI to cheat. AI detection devices like Turnitin claim to be an effective tool to counter this. While it may be mostly effective, there is an increasing issue of false positives.
According to Turnitin, the service ensures a high accuracy with a less than 1% false positive rate. However, considering the vast amount of academic work now being run through the system, that 1% can make up a lot of people.
The phenomenon has made many students take to the internet to share their experiences of being falsely accused of plagiarism. User cerealboxez on TikTok shared their experience with a video captioned “When you get falsely accused of using AI on an assignment by your professor ONE MONTH before you’re supposed to graduate!” Comments flooded in giving her advice on how to fight it. Many expressed they have had similar experiences.
While Turnitin states that the data they give is merely to help educators make ‘informed decisions,’ some professors believe the AI detector is an errorless system and use it to rule with an iron fist. Just as AI systems are new systems and prone to quirks and issues, AI detection is also in a very rudimentary stage. Many mainstream universities have already banned AI detection software due to concerns about its accuracy, including Michigan State University.
These instances of false accusations bring to light the much bigger question of how AI should be handled in the academic field – a topic that is still being heavily debated. While some teachers describe it as a tool, others are intolerant to the new technology. The line between a helping tool and a tool for cheating seems to still be blurry for some.
“I think it’s crucial we explore practical uses of AI without students,” Delta College professor Raymond Lacina says. “This is all so new that even those of us trying to stay on top of it aren’t going to be far ahead of students. It’s inevitable that these tools are going to change how we do so many jobs, so having a foundation of exploration – of using them as tools – is going to be an essential work skill for many. The trick is [to] help students understand that these are tools and discouraging them from trying to use them as shortcuts”
Lacina expanded on where he believes the line between tool and cheating forms.
“I think this may be less difficult than it sounds. Students are expected to submit work that is written in their own words in response to the assignment prompts,” Lacina says. “They are welcome to use AI as a brainstorming tool, or to help them refine their writing, but they can’t submit work written by AI… That said, there isn’t yet a college-wide policy. Students need to make sure they’re clear on each instructor’s AI policy. Some might not want these tools used at all, and for some courses it might be inappropriate.”
While the development of AI is still relatively new, it is not slowing down anytime soon. It is continuously expanding its capabilities. Going forward, constant communication between educators, students, and academic institutions will be necessary to navigate both the challenges and opportunities offered by the technology. It is becoming increasingly essential to establish clear guidelines of how to balance AI with academic integrity, and how to handle reports from AI detection services such as Turnitin.
