Study Reveals How to Spot Essays Written with ChatGPT

Researchers have identified distinctive characteristics of essays aided by ChatGPT, highlighting its impact on academic standards and digital literacy.

• Cambridge researchers have found that essays written with ChatGPT display unique features such as repetition of words, use of Latinate vocabulary, and paragraphs starting with 'however'.
• The study compared essays by undergraduate students using ChatGPT with those of IGCSE students, revealing that AI-assisted essays excel in information and reflection but lag in analysis and comparison.
• Concerns over cheating have led universities like Cambridge, Oxford, and Edinburgh to ban the use of generative AI tools like ChatGPT in assessed work.
• Despite the limitations, students found ChatGPT useful for quickly gathering information, but reliance on it could lead to essays of a low academic standard.
• Learning to use and detect generative AI is becoming an increasingly important aspect of digital literacy, according to the researchers.

3 Articles

Evening Standard The Telegraph Forbes