ChatGPT — an artificial intelligence tool that can write essays, poems and emails on any subject with the click of a cursor — sent shockwaves throughout the education world when it was introduced late last year. Now, its creators have built a new program that can help catch students who use the AI bot to cheat.
But instead of quelling teachers’ fears, the new detection tool has been somewhat of a letdown within the technology and education worlds. Created by San Francisco-based company OpenAI, the platform identifies AI-written text accurately only a quarter of the time — and gives a false positive for nearly 1 in 10 submissions. Even a different detection tool created by a Princeton college student works slightly better.
Some experts worry that the company’s detection program could lead to wrongly accusing students of plagiarism.
