According to research led by Penn State, language models raise plagiarism concerns. Among the many ways they do so is by paraphrasing and reusing ideas from training data without appropriately citing the source.
ChatGPT is one of the best examples of these language models. Its sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) can easily generate stories, essays, research papers, dissertations, or anything else written on a broad range of topics in response to users’ prompts.
While it accelerates the innovation process and shortens times-to-publication, ChatGPT’s assistance in writing has negatively affected academic integrity. In this article, we’ll explore the nuanced intersection between plagiarism and ChatGPT in the academe.
What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the practice of reusing other people’s ideas, words, or work without giving them appropriate credit. Properly giving credit can be done in two ways: Within a piece of content in either parentheticals or footnotes, or at the end of the work, usually in the references or bibliography.
In the context of education, plagiarism is considered highly unethical and even considered a punishable offense. It may lead to reputational harm, negative scholastic consequences, and expulsion, regardless of whether it’s intentionally or unintentionally done.
Even in the professional fields, many professionals have been fired for plagiarism and claiming another’s work as their own. Other companies go as far as to take legal action, claiming that plagiarized content infringes on an author’s intellectual property rights.
ChatGPT and Plagiarism
ChatGPT doesn’t usually trigger conventional plagiarism detectors because it generates unique content and wording. However, note that plagiarism goes beyond copying others’ work verbatim.
Even if the content is paraphrased, not properly giving credit is still considered plagiarism. This is where ChatGPT raises concerns, particularly in higher education. Many ChatGPT-generated content is well-written but lacks proper and sufficient citations.
Another issue is that there are reported instances where ChatGPT produces content that’s similar to other existing content. In other words, while the wording differs, the ideas may not be original.
Moreover, the following are other ways ChatGPT will likely negatively influence academia:
- ChatGPT degrades the transparency and quality of academic research, creating more plagiarism-related challenges.
- It prompts new ethical and legal challenges on responsibility, original authorship, and ownership of ideas, content, and models for discipline-focused learners, researchers, publishers, and schools.
On a positive note, ChatGPT assists researchers in designing experiments through probability analyses, revolutionizing publishing and research practices. It also creates a more equitable and diverse set of researchers and connects industry data sources more efficiently.
What is ChatGPT’s Plagiarism Score?
ChatGPT’s plagiarism score is generated not by one Chat GPT detector but hundreds of plagiarism detectors or checkers. These tools show an estimated percentage of content copied or written by AI-powered language models.
A plagiarism score may vary depending on the plagiarism detector used. For ChatGPT’s case, some claim it shows plagiarism of less than 5%, while others show a lot more.
What Are The Ways to Prevent ChatGPT Plagiarism?
It’s impossible for a human being to analyze a written work and determine whether or not ChatGPT generated it, but a Chat GPT detector can. Many cutting-edge plagiarism checker tools are available for teachers and students to use to spot plagiarism. With the constant improvement of AI-generated content checkers, it is important to stay updated on the latest innovations.
For students and content-producing professionals, relying on one’s skills and knowledge base is still ideal. Only leverage AI tools and other language models to gather ideas and fill in the small gaps in your understanding of a specific topic.
More importantly, learn how to cite and reference sources appropriately. It’s the best method to prevent plagiarism. For example, employ AI-generated content as a basis for an assignment but ensure to include proper attribution.
It is imperative that academic institutions or professional bodies continue to build awareness about plagiarism among learners. Students must understand that AI-generated content can still count as plagiarism. They must be taught how to cite and reference sources properly and the importance of creating original work.
Structure assignments and activities requiring problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity to ensure their learning. This will make it more complicated for AI-generated content to answer essay prompts appropriately.
Updating academic integrity guidelines is necessary. This helps address the use of AI and ensures that students understand the ethical implications of using AI-generated plagiarized text without appropriate citing.
With the widespread use of language models, the academic community must work with developers to create research-assisted technologies that help maintain academic research’s quality, accuracy, and transparency.
Final Thoughts
ChatGPT generates content non verbatim. However, from an academic integrity standpoint, it’s questionable unless it follows proper citing. It’s highly advised to exercise caution when using it as a tool and ensure that each aspect of its generated content is original.