AI detectors are AI-based tools for checking whether text is human-written or partially or fully generated by artificial intelligence. They are also used to check the uniqueness of content written by the author, which is necessary to raise the content in search engines.
How Do AI Detectors Work?
According to The Data Scientist popular AI detectors such as Smodin, Scribbr, QuillBot, ZeroGPT and others work on the principle of machine learning. Machine learning enables computers to recognize patterns in large data sets and then use those patterns to make predictions or decisions about new data. Computers split text into linguistic units (nouns, verbs, prepositions, etc.) and use algorithms to analyze the correlation between these units.
AI detectors are based on language models that look at the input and ask: “Is this what I would write?”. The text will likely be identified as AI-generated if the answer is yes. Language models also identify variables such as perplexity and burstiness:
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- Perplexity indicates the degree of unpredictability of the text, i.e. the possibility that the text may confuse the reader, appear complex, inconsistent, and difficult to read. Perplexity also analyzes creativity and the number of typos, spellings;
- Burstiness is similar to perplexity but considers the textual content of sentences, not words. Burstiness analyzes the variability of sentence structure and length, preventing the possibility of text monotony typical for AI generation.
AI detectors’ language models predict which word would be logical in the next sentence and insert it, unlike humans, who may use a more unpredictable word. Thus, using predictable words with lower perplexity and burstiness scores can increase the probability of identifying text as written by artificial intelligence.
Text can also be identified in percentage or word value depending on the detector used. Some AI detectors can produce the following results: fully created, created and enhanced by artificial intelligence, written by humans and enhanced by artificial intelligence, and fully written by humans.
Who needs an AI detector?
AI detectors are used to detect the proportion of artificial intelligence in texts, which can be relevant for people working with content, texts, and documentation. Checking for the uniqueness of texts can be helpful for:
- educators (teachers and university professors) who want to check the originality of their students’ work;
- publishers who want to make sure they’re publishing content written by a human;
- moderators of social media or sites that filter fake product reviews and other spam content.
The AI detector can also be helpful for recruiters, web writers, and copywriters who want to avoid text matches with other sources. Artificial intelligence trainers also use AI to get more reliable test results.
Is the AI detector reliable?
In most cases, artificial intelligence detectors work without errors, but if they don’t, they can malfunction and produce false or dubious results. The AI detector may show incorrect information when the text:
- text was edited or paraphrased after AI generation;
- text does not match the AI detector’s criteria for checking (low perplexity and burstiness);
- text is too short or long (in this case chances of AI generation are higher).
However, it is important to remember that no AI detector is 100% reliable. A detector can identify human text as written by AI and vice versa. Sometimes, AI detectors can also give variable results, especially when using two different detectors. Therefore, it may be difficult to establish 100% results using AI detectors.
Is it possible to write without using an AI detector for checking?
If AI-generated content is published on the web, the probability of its detection in a search engine decreases. Thus, the lower the percentage of AI-generated content, the higher the content will rank in the search engine. A low score of human-written content can also affect the number of customers or target audiences who won’t understand the content and won’t be interested in it.
But sometimes, even when text is written without AI generation, an AI detector can identify it as generated by artificial intelligence, creating a need to check written texts. So, the results of AI detectors should be used as a guide, but not taken as the only correct one.
Is it possible to fool an AI detector?
AI detectors have built-in standard check patterns, many of which are not within the spectrum of human vocabulary, writing style, etc. Therefore, to increase the uniqueness of the text, the author can use:
- colloquial speech (AI-based chatbots are programmed to use polite speech);
- absence of introductory constructions such as “It is generally accepted”, “It is important to note”, etc;
- coherence (AI can write informative text but does not match the query or connect, for example, between paragraphs).
In addition, the AI generation may use unreliable sources, citations, etc. To avoid reducing uniqueness, the author should refer only to verified sources. However, as many authors think, fooling the AI detector with grammatical errors or illogical word sequences is impossible.
Conclusion
AI detector is a useful tool for promoting written content on the web, or when there are suspicions of checking whether a human writes the text. However, it is worth remembering that no detector gives 100% reliability of the result, so authors and text checkers should not rely solely on their results.
The use of AI also gives authors the opportunity to learn how to identify language constructions and phrases that can be perceived as AI-generated. In addition, human-written texts allow text checkers to eliminate extensive research on search networks regarding fictionalized sources, characters, quotes, etc., made up by artificial intelligence.
