Unis and schools are moving away from AI-detection software. They should stop using it altogether

Moor Studio/Getty Images Since artificial intelligence (AI) software ChatGPT was released in 2022, teachers have been looking for ways to tell when AI has been used to generate text in assessments.

AI-detection software is still sold by some tech companies, such as Pangram , as a potential solution.

This month, the New South Wales Education Standards Authority updated its rules to stop schools from relying on AI-detection software when deciding if a student has cheated.

The reasoning is that these tools are not always reliable .

While most Australian unis have have already shifted away from AI-detection software in some form, my research suggests the education sector should go one step further, and not use AI-detection tools at all.

Where are unis at? Unis each have their own rules around how they use AI-detection software, or whether they use it at all.

Some unis, such as the University of Melbourne , the University of Sydney and the University of NSW , use AI-detection tools in some form to assist in flagging potential cases of misconduct.

Other unis, such as Curtin University and the University of Queensland , have opted to not use AI-detection tools at all.

Not always reliable The reason is because this software is not always accurate .

When AI-detection tools incorrectly flag a student’s work as including AI-generated text, this is called a false positive.

AI companies want to develop detectors that have low false-positive rates.

For instance, Turnitin, a United States-based company that sells AI-detection software, promotes a false-positive rate of less than 1% .

However, Turnitin says this software is only reliable in detecting AI use when documents contain more than 20% AI-generated content .

Impacts on students A small false-positive rate can still lead to big problems.