So, once again, I am attempting to help a student reduce an AI detection score to below the mid-30% range, according to Turnitin. Strangely enough, Grammarly agrees with that score, but flags different passages. Their agreement is around 10%. Does that mean the paper is 60% AI-generated?
Like my experience with the Turnitin plagiarism checker, Grammarly also changes its mind about what to flag. Between checks, a clean paragraph with no changes shows up flagged, and then a previously flagged paragraph with no changes shows up clean. I begin to think what AI detectors flag is mostly random.
Change, check, change, check, change again and leap for joy when the flag disappears—until the next time, when it may be flagged again.
The realisation dawns that my efforts are pointless. The machine is learning from my changes, taking possession of whatever text I submit, then flagging it because it now belongs to the machine.
We cannot win. AI is designed to replace us: Every effort made to circumvent or sidestep that intention allows the machine to learn how to better sideline us. The human mind—everything cognitive, data-based, and documented—is being hijacked, one step at a time. And every time we participate, we give it more power.
So, after a PhD in psychology and a lifetime of contemplating the evolution of human consciousness in pursuit of the Truth, the truth is that I would be well-advised to attend a trade school.