Plagiarism Check of an AI-Generated Essay (Why Is It Important?)
Artificial Intelligence technology is developing rapidly nowadays. It is already changing the functionality of many industries, like healthcare, IT, education, and others.
The questions related to AI-generated content have become even more vital with the ChatGPT introduction. This tool is immensely popular nowadays because it can write essays, compose poems, write computer codes, and do a lot more than that. In addition, this technology can pass different plagiarism detectors without any extra work on your part. That is why students have started using this system and other AI tools for writing essays.
On the one hand, it saves them a lot of time and effort, but on the other hand, they do not submit their original work that can demonstrate their understanding of the subject.
Nevertheless, these popular AI instruments may have some risks if you do not use it smartly. AI-generated paper can be considered plagiarized because it does not make references to any sources. That is why it is important to check AI-generated essays for plagiarism, like any other academic paper.
Reasons to use plagiarism checker:
- avoiding dishonesty and enhancing academic integrity;
- boosting the credibility of the content and making advancements in your academic reputation;
- following ethical considerations and responsible content creation.
With plagiarism detector, you can verify the uniqueness of the content and address all issues before submitting your paper.
The Process of AI Paper Writing
Creation of the academic content with the help of AI-powered tools is easy and fast. You just open AI essay generator and type your request.
All these writing tools need specific prompts. For example, you need to instruct the AI tool about the type of writing (a blog post, an argumentative essay, a poem, a report, etc.). You also need to specify a topic. You can also specify the tone of voice (professional or emotional) for some AI generators.
The tool uses complex AI algorithms. So, it is able to analyze the content it has access to and use paraphrasing and machine learning to generate content that may obviously seem human-written. It uses synonyms and paraphrases to avoid plagiarizing.
The result you can get from AI generator is usually high-quality. However, the paper may sound unnatural, and your professor may notice something strange even if a plagiarism detector shows that the essay is unique.
AI Content vs. Plagiarism: How Are They Interrelated?
If we look at the technical aspects of plagiarism, AI-generated content does not look like that. Plagiarism is copying other people’s ideas and content created by them without any references. It does not matter whether it is a word-by-word copy or a paraphrase. Meriam-Webster says that plagiarism means taking someone else’s words and presenting them as your own. AI essay writer generates unique content from scratch and does not steal someone’s ideas, so it cannot be referred to as plagiarism.
Nevertheless, the generated papers is not plagiarism if machine learning is used to create texts from scratch without using any existing content on the web. If the ideas were expressed in some other sources and then paraphrased without references, it would be considered plagiarized.
The main problem is that you will never know whether the AI tool generates the content from scratch or paraphrases something it finds in the databases. If the latter, you may be accused of plagiarism. To avoid it, you need to quote any paraphrased text or make citations.
Why can plagiarism occur in AI-generated content?
- various data sources used for AI model training, including copyrighted materials;
- lack of originality when the generated content resembles existing works or duplicates them;
- inadequate post-processing when further steps fail to identify and attribute sources appropriately.
What can you do to prevent plagiarism in some AI-generated content?
- incorporate mechanisms that provide proper citations or attributions when referencing external sources;
- review the content after generation and use plagiarism detection tool to check for similarities with other works;
- provide the necessary sources if you are planning to submit the paper;
- review and edit paper so it will have more of your unique style.
Such use of AI-generated content will be safe, responsible, and ethical. It will show that you respect the intellectual property rights of other people and help you promote your reputation and academic integrity.
How Ethical Is AI Content?
There is a continuous discussion in scientific and academic circles on the question of whether it is ethical to use AI writing for academic purposes. Many researchers and professors argue that no, it is not ethical. Students may present an idea or text as their own, though they have hardly ever looked through it and understood topic’s essence. That may lower the quality of academic studies and education.
If, according to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, you copy another person’s ideas, words, or work and pretend that they are your own, you plagiarize the content.
Some pretend that generated papers are their own ideas, so they may not be worthy of trust and respect. You may even pass your grade in this way, but you will hardly learn anything about the subject of your writing. How can other students or researchers who would like to cite your paper know that these ideas belong to you?
Moreover, the ethics of using AI-generated content for academic research and social communication purposes depends on the case’s peculiarities and the purpose of writing. If you use such content in your blog and inform readers about it, you behave ethically. Though if it is academic writing and you use it irresponsibly, and it is not too ethical.
All this does not mean that you cannot use AI writing tools for creating your academic papers at all. It can be a useful source of information, so everything is right and ethical if you use such content as your first draft and further develop it with your own ideas and research results.
Consider your professor’s and institution’s attitudes toward such content. In most cases, they do not differentiate between plagiarized and AI-generated content. So, you may be penalized.
Remember that AI-generated content in itself is neutral, and its ethics depends on the intentions of those who create and use it.
Remember!
If used properly, AI-generated papers can provide valuable information, improve efficiency, and save time and effort by automating many tasks. You only need to:
- ✔️ clearly disclose when the content is AI-generated
- ✔️ ensure its compliance with copyright laws and intellectual property rights
- ✔️ regularly evaluate the quality and impact of such content
- ✔️ implement mechanisms to address bias and fairness concerns
Why Use a Plagiarism Checker and How to Do It?
No AI writing tool can guarantee you a plagiarism-free paper. The generated content is based on the existing information and datasets full of someone else’s ideas and findings. Even if you paraphrase such content without referencing it, it may be considered plagiarism.
So, citing sources is crucial even if you use AI-generated content. You need to know and use the citation style (like MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, etc.) required by your academic institution and make in-text and reference list citations properly. Citations will also help you get a better score because they will demonstrate your great research skills to your professor.
Main benefits of using plagiarism checker for AI-generated essay- verifying originality and identifying any similarities or matches;
- avoiding unintentional reproduction of phrases and sentences to rephrase or attribute them properly;
- ensuring compliance with the standards of originality and copyright legislation;
- building trust with your professors, readers, or customers;
- maintaining quality and a high reputation for the content and you as its provider.
Even if you have decided to use a plagiarism checker, you need to consider the following tips:
- A plagiarism checker has to be reliable, reputable, and accurate, with comprehensive database coverage.
- Check whether you have included proper citations and attributions in the content.
- Use grammar checker and other editors if your content is too complicated and you suspect a plagiarism checker can omit something.
- Evaluate flagged results to distinguish between actual plagiarism and allowed similarities.
Make it a rule to check any content for plagiarism no matter whether it is created by you or AI essay writer. You will be safe and protected against any unexpected issues.
Final Thoughts
You need to be careful while using AI tools for your academic essays and other types of writing.
Though technically such content cannot be plagiarized because AI creates papers from scratch, the tools use already existing datasets. That is why the content which is not properly cited is considered plagiarized anyway. To avoid such academic and ethical issues, use a reputable and accurate plagiarism checker and sources.