How much writing is AI doing for students in K12 and college? While it may be impossible to nail down an exact number, new data released this week from one of the leading AI detector tools shows few students are using artificial intelligence to write entire papers—but many of them are using the rapidly advancing technology.
Turnitin, a widely used plagiarism checker, released its AI detection tool a year ago and has since scanned more than 200 million papers for evidence of artificial intelligence, the company says. Its data, which runs through late March, shows steady student use of AI:
- Over 22 million papers (approximately 11%) had at least 20% AI writing present
- Over six million papers (approximately 3%) had at least 80% AI writing present
“We’re at an important juncture in education where technologies are transforming learning and the need for academic integrity is more critical than ever,” says Annie Chechitelli, chief product officer at Turnitin.
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She added that detection tools aren’t the sole solution to regulating student use of AI. K12 leaders and teachers should have ongoing discussions with students about using the technology appropriately.
Inviting artificial intelligence to school
Chechitelli’s comments jibe with a raft of recent reports showing more and more K12 leaders and teachers are inviting AI into the classrooms. Superintendent Minerva Garcia-Sanchez of the DeKalb School District #428 in Illinois tells District Administration that she is looking forward next school year to her educators becoming more comfortable with AI.
The district’s teachers have been using a version of ChatGPT to help students learn how to ask the right questions when using the technology. The goal is for students to let their emerging knowledge and reasoning guide their interactions with the bots, she explains. “Kids are already using it,” says Garcia-Sanchez, who has led the Illinois district for three years. “To them, it’s no big deal. It’s us making a big deal of it and causing it to be more than it really is.”
The Center for Democracy & Technology’s new “Up In the Air” research report found that educators are becoming more enthusiastic about generative AI as a learning tool. Still, concerns about cheating and other inappropriate use are forcing teachers to rely on ineffective AI detection tools and take disciplinary action against students, both of which are damaging trust in the classroom, the report noted.
For example, more than half of the teachers surveyed said that AI has made them more doubtful that students are submitting original work. When it comes to misuse, there was a sharp increase—from 48% to 64%—in the number of teachers who said students got in trouble for using or being accused of using AI to complete schoolwork, the Center for Democracy & Technology reported.
Another analysis, from the Center on Reinventing Public Education think tank at Arizona State University, contends that the focus is shifting from how AI is being used to cheat to how it can improve learning. Yet, the guidance school leaders have received as they attempt to adopt AI has been “ambiguous and underdeveloped.”
