Identifying AI Content (and What to Do About It)

As ChatGPT and other AI writing tools become more sophisticated and more commonplace, it's likely that we'll occasionally see AI-generated content in the editing queue. This article will describe ways to identify AI content and help you determine when/if editing AI-generated editing is acceptable.

Identifying AI-Generated Writing

Unfortunately, content written with these tools doesn't announce "Beep, boop -- I was written by a robot." That said, there are a few giveaways:

1. Usually, but not always, the writing is free from grammatical errors. As editors, you know it's rare to see a truly error-free piece of writing, even from excellent writers!

2. Usually, but not not always, the writing lacks variability in sentence structure and language use. It often reads as "flat" compared to human-generated text.

The example in the screenshots below was recently submitted to Kibin's Paper Grader Service, and multiple tools confirmed that it was written by AI. This is a great example of AI generating flat, dry text that's a little too perfect mechanically speaking:

AI Detection Tools

There are a few tools available that allow you to check text (usually with a character limit) for AI generation. As more of these tools become available, we'll expand this section with additional resources. 

When to Edit AI-Generated Content (and When to Flag It)

If you encounter a document that is mostly or completely written by AI, please flag it without editing under the following circumstances:

  • It falls under the student, academic, or admissions segments. In these cases, submitting AI content as one's own work is a clear violation of academic integrity standards, and Kibin will not complete the order. 
  • It falls under another segment AND the customer is asking for it to be rewritten in whole or in part. Kibin is an editing service, not a spinning service. Please treat these requests as though someone was asking us to rewrite an article or any other work they did not write themselves.

Professionals, job seekers, and other writers outside of academic contexts are using AI writing tools to help them write cover letters, blog posts, and other content more efficiently; these texts often contain a blend of human-generated and AI writing. In cases such as these, you can proceed with editing per our usual scope/standards. Again, however, if the writer is explicitly asking or implying that you should disguise the fact that the text was written with AI, it should be flagged regardless of the document segment. 

As always, if you encounter a document that falls into a grey area or you aren't sure how to proceed, you can email team@kibin.com for guidance.