Accused of Cheating with AI? Your Ultimate Guide to Defend Your Work
If you have been accused of submitting a paper written by AI, here's 5 ways you defend yourself.
1. Provide work in progress
2. Check instructions on spelling and grammar checkers
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5 Ways to Defend Yourself Against AI Writing
1. Provide work in progress
2. Check instructions regarding spelling and grammar checkers
3. Show AI writing detection score is not reliable evidence
4. Ask for AI writing detection report and threshold
5. Ask if all students with papers over the threshold score are being disciplined
2. Check instructions regarding spelling and grammar checkers
3. Show AI writing detection score is not reliable evidence
4. Ask for AI writing detection report and threshold
5. Ask if all students with papers over the threshold score are being disciplined
Provide work in progress
Some online word processors like Google Docs automatically keep a history of all document changes. Show the changes and timestamps of your work in progress, to prove the paper was written by you over time, and not generated instantly by AI. A copy of draft version also works.
Check instructions regarding spelling and grammar checkers
Check if the assignment specific prohibits the use of spelling and grammar checkers. If not, make the argument that you used a spelling and grammar checkers. There are known to generate "false positives", as the software is technically rewriting your work in a way that is permitted.
Ask which tool was used to test for AI writing, look up their website, and find a quote to use that says that AI writing detection scores are only "predictive indicators" and should not be considered evidence of cheating. All AI writing detection tools have this disclaimer.
Ask for AI writing detection report and threshold
Every AI writing detection tool provides a report. Ask for the report and find your AI writing detection score. e.g. 85%. Ask what threshold value (e.g. > 50%) the school or the teacher has set to determine when follow-up action is necessary. If the school hasn't determined a threshold value, point out they are not following established best practices.
If they said it's because your score shows in "red" versus "yellow" or "green" in the report, point out the tool colors scores based on simple numeric range, and those ranges do not have an associated meaning.
Ask if all students above the threshold score are being disciplined
Ask if the all students with submitted work above the threshold are being disciplined. While not directly proving your innocence, it may work to "get the charges dropped". Teachers and academic review boards are highly sensitive to accusations of bias, as it erodes their credibility.
If all the students being accused of cheating are above the threshold, question why the threshold wasn't set lower. It's just as unfair to allow some students to get away with cheating, while other don't.
Provided by Authorship AI, a better alternative to AI writing detection scores.