A Practical Guide to Understanding How Can Turnitin Detect ChatGPT

23 Apr 2024

2759 Views

Share

Do you think ChatGPT is a blessing? Are you the one who relies on it for completing academic assignments? If so, then understand this: with advanced technology, even professors can detect the use of AI for work using the software called Turnitin. Many institutions rely on it for checking of academic papers written by students. Turnitin AI detection accuracy is 98%, but that doesn't mean it is always correct. Can Turnitin detect ChatGPT? Then the short answer is yes, it can. Now, if you have a question like, " Is it good or bad?" Or "will there be any consequences?" Then yes, it will have one. The software is developed in such a manner that it can detect AI-generated content in your paper, whether you rephrase or not.

You must be confused and worried at the same time about how your situation can change if you rely on AI agents like ChatGPT. Moreover, your goal shouldn't be to ignore Turnitin but learn to interpret the output and respond effectively when things go wrong. This blog will cover your queries related to the tool.

How Does Turnitin Detect AI Generated Content?

Turnitin is a proprietary, commercial software, and its access is restricted to educational institutions, publishers, and corporations through paid, annual subscriptions. That reason alone makes it use a combination of complex ML models, linguistic analysis, and pattern recognition. This section of the blog will provide you with an answer to the question of how Turnitin detects AI text.

It can detect AI generated content due to:

1. It has a large dataset that contains:

Human-written academic texts (By professional writers)

AI-generated texts (from models like ChatGPT, GPT-4, etc.)

2. It can measure how predictable the text is. It is called Perplexity. The perplexity measures are:

Low perplexity means the text is very predictable. It means the text is more likely to be generated with AI.

High perplexity means more randomness and is more human like. 

3. It can detect variation in:

Sentence length

Complex vocabulary

Writing Rhythm

Understand that humans write in bursts, i.e., in short and long sentences mixed. AI often produces uniform, evenly paced writing. With this, you must have a clear answer to questions like “Can Turnitin detect ChatGPT?”

What Turnitin Can Detect?

The software Turnitin can detect several distinct types of academic integrity issues, but it also has clear limits.

• Turnitin's primary function is plagiarism. So, if you question like “Can Turnitin detect Chat GPT?”, it can detect:
  • Copy-paste plagiarism
  • Poor paraphrasing
  • Patchwork plagiarism
  • Self-plagiarism

If you have a question like Can Turnitin detect GPT-4 content? Know that Turnitin includes an AI detection tool that can detect the likelihood of text being generated by AI tools. It can analyse predictability, structure, and also written patterns. 

• Moreover, Turnitin can also detect:
  • Heavily paraphrased text that still follows the source structure
  • Synonym-changed content
  • Sentence-level rearrangements

• Finally, know that Turnitin cannot prove someone else wrote your paper, but it may flag:
  • Sudden changes in content style
  • Vocabulary or grammar level increase

Now, if you have a question like “Can Turnitin detect chat Gpt if you paraphrase?”, it can do so as the content generated will follow identical structures, a high level of vocabulary, and reuse of lab reports, case studies, or problem explanations. So do not rely on the technology too much.

Can Turnitin Detect ChatGPT?

If you want to learn more as the question is quite common but answer is a bit refined. Here is a more specific answer:

1. Turnitin capability-

• It is primarily used as a plagiairism tool. It will compare your submitted text with a massive database or papers, academic publications,and content available on the internet.
• Until now, Turnitin didn't specifically detect detect AI generated text but just flagged the part where it found unoriginal content.

2. Implementation of AI detection features-

• In 2023, the tool makers announced that they were developing an AI detection tool, developed to identify text likely generated with AI , which includes ChatGPT.
• Understand that the tool doesn't make any claims of 100% certainity. It just uses patterns seen in AI written contents, such as:
• Predictable use of phrases or sentence structures
• Tone either overly formal or neutral
• Lack of personal touch in context
• The tool doescn't specifically identify ChatGPT, but just AI-generated text in general.

Hopefully, you are now clear with the answer and will be able to pass on this to others who who think the tool can detect ChatGPT.

Are You Afraid of Plagiarized Texts?

Worry Not, Get Turnitin Report for just $1 to Avoid Plagiarism.

Scan NOW!

How does Turnitin Work?

It is a software that checks for AI writing patterns in academic work and compares your submitted work to massive databases, and analyses writing patterns to help professors assess originality and academic integrity. It does not have the ability make final judgments but provides reports on which humans can review. The process is as follows:

1. Submission of the document

The student submits an assignment through:

• Learning management systems (for example Canvas)

OR

• Directly into Turnitin

2. Plagiarism check

After Turnitin tool gets the document, it will compare the text against several databases:

• Internet Sources (For instance, websites, blogs, articles)
• Academic publications (For example, journals, books, papers)
• Student paper repository (lot of past submissions)

3. AI content detection(If Enabled)

Turnitin paraphrased AI detection use ML models to predict whether text may be AI-generated or not.

4. Generation of report

Finally, this is the last step where Turnitin creates an originality report. The report contains:

• Similarity score
• AI writing indicator
• Source breakdown
• Side-by-side text comparison

With this, you now understand how Turnitin works, and answer the question “Can Turnitin detect chat Gpt?”.

Some misconceptions should be addressed. Know that:

• Turnitin cannot conduct a grammar check.
• Turnitin isn't able to detect ChatGPT use directly.
• Low similarity means perfect originality.

Can ChatGPT Detect if You Rephrase?

If your question is “Can Turnitin detect chat Gpt if you paraphrase?”, then yes. But, you must understand ChatGPT itself cannot check your text against a database of sources, compare your work to Turnitin, Google, or other academic papers. Moreover, it won't know the source unless you provide it. Also, it cannot determine whether something was rephrased from another document.

ChatGPT is not a rephrasing detector as it is:

• A text generator, not a forensic analysis too
• Not trained to identify plagiarism or paraphrase with certainty.
• Not connected to external similarity database.

Although it can help you check rephrasing quality ethically, you shouldn't rely on its use and keep it to moderate use. 

How to Respond When Human Written TextIs Flagged as ChatGPT Generated?

From the above section, you are clear with the question “Can Turnitin detect chat Gpt if you paraphrase?” Now, if somehow your original work is flagged, first and foremost, you should have confidence if you wrote content in your own words. You shouldn't panic then, especially if your original idea is detected as AI-generated. In academics, you have to use a complex writing style, arguments, and technical language that can easily trigger false positives in the Turnitin detection system. When you get one, it can be frustrating in your work. Stay calm under such circumstances and state clearly that the work is your original content. Try to understand the limitations of AI detection. One point to keep in mind is that Turnitin itself states AI scores cannot prove AI use. It is a fact and not a defence trick. You should:

• Gather supportive evidence
• Request for human review politely
• Use clear, professional language

Conclusion

After reading this blog, you can answer the question “Can Turnitin Detect Chat Gpt?” You understand the software Turnitin and its functionalities. The software can sometimes pick false positives, even if the work is original, and at times, you should stay calm and polite. While tools like Turnitin and any online plagiarism checker play an important role in promoting academic integrity, their AI detection features are not 100% correct and should be interpreted with caution. Moreover, AI flags are based on probability rather than proof. It will sometimes make an error to flag genuine human-written work, particularly in formal academic papers. Hopefully, you will use Turnitin AI detection with precaution and not rely on it.

Read more: What is era cycle? A Simple Guide with Examples

Was This Blog Helpful?

Yes No