Do you know how, as a student, plagiarism tempts you with the promise of quick, effortless success? It’s the shortcut that turns your essay into a game of intellectual hide-and-seek, where you hope your professor won’t catch you red-handed in the labyrinth of unoriginality.
Plagiarism is a serious concern in the realm of content creation – one that I’ve had to deal with as a university teacher. In the words of Anthony Bridgerton, it’s been “the bane of my existence.” So I aim to help you avoid it.
But what if the content creator is an AI language model like Chat GPT? Does Chat GPT plagiarize or is it plagiarism free?
The answer is not as straightforward as you might think. The truth needs unpacking.
Key Takeaways
- Chat GPT is designed to generate plagiarism free content, but you should take precautionary measures to ensure originality.
- It’s recommended that you use plagiarism detection tools to assess AI-generated content and edit Chat GPT text to avoid legal implications.
- AI writing tools should be used responsibly to improve efficiency and enhance creativity.
The Benefits of AI Writing Tools
Have you seen the movie “I, Robot”, in which Will Smith spends most of his time trying to convince humans that robots are only “lights and clockwork” and not to be trusted? He was proven right, but the world we live in now would probably disagree with him. AI has become so ubiquitous that ignoring its benefits doesn’t seem to make much sense anymore.
When used correctly and ethically (emphasis on both adverbs), AI writing tools can be of great assistance. They can:
- Be selected in line with your writing objectives
- Offer you detailed input on complex topics
- Customize the tone and structure of the generated content
- Leverage AI to improve your topic ideas and titles
- Aid in idea generation, outlining, drafting, editing, and publishing
- Enhance your productivity
- Offer grammar and spelling recommendations
- Provide you with content suggestions
- Streamline the entire writing process.
One student even told me that Chat GPT helped him understand internal combustion machines better than the professor!
What Is Chat GPT’s Approach to Generating Text?
Chat GPT, an artificial intelligence language model, is designed to assist with writing tasks.
How does it do this?
By generating responses tailored to your preferences and requirements.
Since responses are adapted to individual user input, the chances of creating identical output for different users are significantly reduced.
According to developers at OpenAI, Chat GPT has been crafted to be plagiarism free, with the goal of generating original content to the greatest extent possible.
Still, you know what they say about the best of intentions, right?
The model’s learning process involves extensive training data, potentially including existing online content. This could cause Chat GPT to unintentionally produce text that is similar to what’s already out there.
The Fine Line Between Inspiration and Plagiarism in AI Writing Tools
AI writing tools like Chat GPT are revolutionizing content creation. They also blur the line between inspiration and plagiarism.
Plagiarism means using another person’s work, concepts, or language without proper acknowledgment. When AI like Chat GPT generates text that bears a resemblance to sources it has encountered, the question of plagiarism arises.
This much is clear: When you decide to present AI-generated material as your original student work without acknowledging its source (also known as copying and pasting), Chat GPT use crosses from inspiration to plagiarism.
So AI-generated content is NOT inherently free from the possibility of plagiarism.
As a student, you should follow these steps to keep academic institutions happy:
- Acknowledge that AI may produce concepts that are not entirely unique.
- Conduct an assessment with a reliable plagiarism checker (see more info below).
- Change any content that is too similar to existing sources. Paraphrase!
Can AI Mimicry Be Considered Plagiarism?
A question connected to intellectual property laws. This is because AI employs natural language processing techniques to analyze and understand patterns in human-written text, allowing it to emulate human writing styles and generate content.
The bad news is that this is still being debated, with no definitive consensus in sight.
How to Measure Chat GPT’s Originality
The good news is that there is a way to measure the originality of Chat GPT-generated content.
This can be done through a Chat GPT plagiarism score. Conventional plagiarism detection tools analyze text patterns, compare them with existing sources, and provide a similarity score to identify instances of plagiarism.
The score reflects the similarity between text generated by Chat GPT and internet text.
In academia, a plagiarism score under 15% is generally fine (see my post on Turnitin and Chat GPT for more on this).
Although recent developments have made the detection of plagiarism in Chat GPT-generated content easier, its complete detection is currently out of reach. This is a serious limitation. Basically, the world needs more reliable plagiarism detection tools or updates in these tools.
I recommend you use the following plagiarism checkers to keep your content plagiarism free:
- Grammarly (best and most user-friendly)
- Scribbr (the most thorough)
- Turnitin (can prove less accessible to students compared to university staff).
Best Practice for Using Chat GPT Responsibly
It’s impossible to escape AI at the moment. Its tools improve language generation, assist in translation, and enhance content creation, resulting in improved efficiency and potentially broader influence. No wonder even Oxford University professors like Michael Osborne say they want students to use Chat GPT!
Yet employing Chat GPT too much can get you accused of plagiarism. While making too little use of it might leave you staring at your computer screen with nothing to elaborate on. This tightrope is yours to navigate.
My personal belief is that Chat GPT is fabulous for ideation and creativity enhancement. It’s up to you to then take the ideas that are worthwhile from the ones generated, do research, and properly develop them in a piece of (academic) writing.
If you also consistently attribute externally sourced material to authors through citations and references, you should be safe from any and all plagiarism allegations.
Which brings me back to the legal aspect of it all.
AI Content and Copyright Law
In the United States, copyright law mandates that a work must have human authorship to qualify for copyright protection. Thus, content generated exclusively by AI is not eligible for copyright unless it includes substantial creative input from a human.
Even so, there are legal challenges associated with the use of AI-generated content, such as copyright infringement and liability issues.
There’s a risk of violating intellectual property rights when AI-generated content mirrors copyrighted works closely. This is particularly concerning if the AI had access to the original works, which could result in legal consequences for copyright infringement.
Food for thought if you’re pondering writing a novel with the help of AI.
Wrapping Up
In conclusion, AI language models like Chat GPT have taken the world by storm. There’s no stopping them now.
However, they also raise complex issues concerning plagiarism in academia.
The solution?
No obvious one, I’m afraid.
I believe you should use AI tools responsibly, ensuring the originality of generated content with reliable plagiarism checkers as well as proper citing and referencing. Edit too – heavily. As a university teacher, I’d rather work with a student’s own imperfect words than AI supposedly perfect content. Plus, what student progress can there be in the absence of originality and genuine effort?
As AI continues to evolve, so too should our understanding and ethical use of these powerful tools.
Also check out my “How to Break the Cycle of Performance Anxiety” post, with plenty of advice for students.
Here is the video version of this post:
FAQs
1. Can Chat GPT be detected by Turnitin?
The short answer is yes.
Turnitin has more recently been equipped with AI writing detection models that pick up on content from the GPT-3 and GPT-3.5 language models, including Chat GPT.
Therefore, watch out: Turnitin is able to detect when Chat GPT is used in submitted assignments or blocks of text.
Check out the long answer in my post on this.
2. Is it illegal to use Chat GPT for writing?
See info on this under “AI Content and Copyright Law” above.
Using Chat GPT for book writing is legally ambiguous, as output from the platform is not copyrighted but may include input from copyrighted sources.
Err on the side of caution when considering Chat GPT for book writing. Use it for ideation and don’t underestimate your own writing abilities. Writing doesn’t usually appeal to people who aren’t good at it anyway.
3. Does Chat GPT plagiarize?
It appears that Chat GPT is not designed to plagiarize, although it can produce text similar to online content due to its training data.
Take care not to include artifacts from the web, e.g. cookies, cache, and file downloads, in the final answer.
4. How can I ensure the originality of Chat GPT-generated content?
To ensure the originality of Chat GPT-generated content, check its authenticity with plagiarism detection software (my 3 recommendations are Grammarly, Scribbr, and Turnitin).
As a student, also use a proper citing and referencing system such as Harvard or APA.
Finally, avoid including random artifacts (cookies, cache, and file downloads) in the final version of the text.
5. How can AI writing tools enhance creativity in writing?
AI writing tools can help increase creativity by providing assistance with idea generation (ideation) in the initial stages of writing. They also serve as a catalyst for further creativity when suitably prompted. Ask them for what you want and they will do their AI best.
About Rebeca Duriga
Well-versed teacher, passionate writer with Googleable work, Udemy instructor, and someone who can’t resist a good story. I’m here to infuse joy into your learning journey, be it improving English, tackling IELTS, overcoming limiting beliefs, or conquering uni assignments with a sprinkle of AI support. Need motivation and inspiration as a student, adult learner, wordsmith in the making? Look no further.
