AI Detectors DON’T WORK

Let’s end this conversation once and for all

Here’s an opinion I hold, apparently unpopular among college professors: Falsely accusing a student of cheating with AI is way worse than being tricked by all of them.

Here’s another one, apparently unpopular among AI detector builders: A detector that works most of the time but not always (without us knowing a priori which way the coin will fall on) is way worse than another that didn’t work at all.

Am I alone in thinking this?

Teachers are giving in to the easier option, possibly under the illusion that AI text detectors like GPTZero are good enough (I use “AI detector” here as an AI tool designed to detect AI-made from human-made text).

They are rightfully anxious and worried: The school year starting this fall will be harder than usual; no one can predict the impact generative AI will have on education. We are all figuring it out on the go.

This preemptive action by teachers — indiscriminately using faulty detection tools at their disposal — however well-intended, is just adding yet another problem on top of the upcoming AI-cheating epidemic.

The systematization of this issue, as anecdotal accounts suggest is already happening, is not only a profound social and educational…