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Among the many applications of artificial intelligence, a recent, more intuitive, and concerning one is that of AI writing. With pointed efforts over the years, scientists and developers have been able to come up with fairly efficient large language models that are better disposed to understand the intricacies and depth of human language. With the advent of chatbots and essay writers like ChatGPT, students are now automating the process of writing assignments and essays, much to the dismay and concern of teachers and academics. Students in both schools and universities have increasingly taken to deploying AI writing assistants to get through important tasks—a pressing matter that impacts academic integrity and is a rising problem for AI ethics.
While the extent of using ChatGPT’s essays is being curbed by regulations put forth by numerous academic institutions across the world, academics and students need to understand how AI writing works to effectively address the growing phenomenon of language models. Despite their mechanical character, AI essays and papers can quite often pass off as human-written works when tweaked. The subsequent sections of this article deal with the basis of AI writing, the rethink it has triggered, and how progress in detecting artificially generated content will eventually become essential.
Why Does AI Writing Work?
AI writing has become a reality given the strides made in the development of language models.
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Despite AI writing being in its infancy, it has still caused shock and awe among its users. The most striking aspect of an AI essay is that the operator is only required to type in a short description or a prompt to structure and produce an output—often in a few seconds. Unlike human writers that take time to structure and determine the flow of writing, understand, conceptualize, and compile written matter, an AI writing articles spends only fractions of seconds while performing these tasks simultaneously. However, it’s important to note that the AI writing assistant does not comprehend or produce the written output in a manner human writers would. Language models perform complex statistical computations and studies to understand the nuance of language to build patterns that work. Despite being seemingly effective for a fair number of words, it is not uncommon for users to notice incoherent text and inconsistencies in the content produced by AI essay writers like ChatGPT.
While the content might be well-rounded in spelling and grammar, illogical statements and sentences are bound to creep in. The methods of processing words by artificial intelligence and its mechanistic approach tend to also fit in sentences that one might never encounter in human discourse. AI essay writers are also capable of rephrasing already written content; however, this often makes way for breaches in terms of plagiarism and ethics. This mechanical method of processing language and the subsequent stringing together of words is exactly what makes AI writing quick, even if it might seem rather unnatural upon closer examination. Concerns surrounding bias, inaccurate information, and outdated databases are also legitimate. This leaves teachers pondering over multiple aspects of their students’ progress, given the emerging challenge.
AI-Written Articles and Essays: The Implications
AI writing can have numerous implications on crucial learning practices in the current education system.
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By raking in millions of users within just months of its launch, AI writing assistants such as ChatGPT have already become an important part of applications that people use on an everyday basis. With a majority of this population being students, it is obvious that teachers, policymakers, and governments are concerned about this sudden, yet impactful change brought into the space of education and learning. Though it’s not new for AI to have been utilized in pedagogical pursuits and in enhancing learning outcomes, the automation of scholastic tasks such as writing essays and articles might have a long-term impact. Given that the education system has seen restructuring only at a relaxed pace in the last few decades, the introduction of a new variable in the form of AI writing assistants is forcing a renewed approach to academics. Preventive measures have been taken by numerous institutions across the world, with bans being instituted on the ChatGPT essay writer and application. While this is being termed excessive by certain sections of both the scientific and academic community, confoundment and ill-preparedness have impacted the institutional response to AI-generated writing and content.
Though academicians are exploring the idea of judiciously including this technology in their teaching structure, the impact of ChatGPT-written essays and the like might affect students’ ability to research, compile, and present their material independently. With developers scrambling to incorporate both technical and ethical feedback, it is becoming increasingly important for teachers and institutions to closely monitor the usage of these tools among students. The steadiness with which AI is creeping into every aspect of human life might often go unnoticed; however, the sudden upsurge in the usage of these tools to substitute academic rigor and effort has recalibrated scholastic attention toward the potential risks of unimpeded AI usage. Despite regulatory efforts, however, students are bound to get their hands on AI tools—a fact that becomes increasingly apparent. With this in mind, it becomes obvious that weeding out AI-written articles and essays will be the most viable option, alongside structuring education in a manner that removes the motivation to approach a mechanical substitute for what could be a crucial learning experience.
Addressing AI & ChatGPT Plagiarism, Content, and Future Outlook
Detecting AI-generated content is bound to become a necessity in the coming years.
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As the influx of content written by essay writers like ChatGPT and other AI writing assistants grows, reliable detection is crucial to separate them from human-written material. As more developers come up with detection algorithms, including the creators of ChatGPT themselves, the task will indeed become simpler, allowing teachers and academicians to weed out artificially written content. In due time, the prevalence of more technically proficient and advanced AI content detectors will grow, enabling teachers to institute effective practices that can address the growing AI writing problem. However, the proliferation of AI technologies is only set to continue and merely detecting AI content in coursework is only a symptomatic remedy for a structural problem. Innovating within the educational framework will remain key to keeping students away from automating core academic tasks in the long run.