Turnitin adding AI writing detection, but instructors should use it with caution

Turnitin Originality, the centrally supported originality and plagiarism checker made available by Purdue through its Brightspace learning management system, is adding a feature to scan for writing generated by artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as ChatGPT.

The update, set to take place April 4, will happen automatically and Purdue does not have the ability to turn it off, nor have Purdue West Lafayette, Purdue Fort Wayne, Purdue Northwest, or Purdue Global support staff been able to pre-test its functionality and features. Turnitin will demonstrate this technology for all Purdue instructors via Zoom on Wednesday, April 5, from 11-11:30 a.m. CT, 12-12:30 p.m. ET. 

Instructors should be cautious about relying fully on results from the system because it may return false positives or fail to detect some AI-generated material.

Turnitin states: “We only flag something as AI-written when we are 98% sure it is written by AI. This is because we want to make sure we don’t falsely flag something as AI-generated that isn’t. This means, however, that we will likely miss up to 15% of text written by AI, with a less than 1% false positive rate (incorrectly identifying fully human-written text as AI-generated). While Turnitin has confidence in its model, Turnitin does not make a determination of misconduct, rather it provides data for the educators to make an informed decision based on their academic and institutional policies. Hence, we must emphasize that the percentage on the AI writing indicator should not be used as the sole basis for action or a definitive grading measure by instructors.”

The AI-checking feature will appear to users as an additional indicator within the Similarity Report interface. All submissions made to Turnitin after April 4 will automatically be checked for AI writing. The AI writing detection indicator and report will only display to instructors and is not visible to students.

Turnitin scans files submitted through Brightspace assignments, but only if the instructor has turned it on for an assignment. A Similarity Report is then produced highlighting areas of the paper that match content in Turnitin’s database.

For more information on Turnitin’s new AI-checking capability, please see the company’s FAQs.

Purdue University’s AI Microcredentials offer quick and convenient online courses that cover the fundamentals of artificial intelligence and its applications. To learn more, check out our website page.

For questions and support at your campus, contact:

Purdue Fort Wayne: Teaching-related questions should be directed to PFW’s Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT) at celt@pfw.edu, 260-481-6354, or visit CELT’s website for resources and to request one-on-one consultations. Technical support questions should be directed to PFW’s IT Services Help Desk helpdesk@pfw.edu or 260-481-6030.

Purdue Global: Direct teaching-related questions to askctl@purdueglobal.edu. Technical support questions should be directed to TechSupport@purdueglobal.edu or 866-522-7747 (toll free).

Purdue Northwest: Direct teaching-related questions to the Center for Faculty Excellence at cfe@pnw.edu, 219-989-8328, or visit CFE’s website. Technical support questions should be directed to the Office of Instructional Technology by email oit@pnw.edu or OIT’s website or through their Zoom Consultation Link

Purdue West Lafayette: Visit the Innovative Learning website or email TLT@purdue.edu.