Graphic by Alexandra Trejo, Staff Writer and Designer
By Maria Trejo, Staff Writer
Studies show that approximately 86% of college students use AI to help them out with assignments including essays, math work, research, book reports, texting, music, and believe it or not – even artwork. To properly analyze this concept, the question lies in just how can we figure out if a piece of work is truly human or simply AI. The unfortunate reality is that there is no definitive answer to this question.
To determine if a student’s submission was their own work or AI generated, many teachers utilized websites and apps to find the answer. Unfortunately, such sites have been proven to be inconsistent in their accuracy. For example, a student who is well-written could be falsely accused of using technological assistance to aid in the completion of their assignment. That being said, there are still determining factors that allow us to make an educated guess on whether or not a piece of work is human generated.
As artificial intelligence lacks in feeling and subjectivity, a piece of work formulated by technology would portray objectivity on the topic of discussion, lacking a clear view on the author’s personal stance. This can be used to contrast human articulated essays as they commonly flourish with opinions or at least consist of a level of emotional value. Another aspect to consider is the consistency of one’s writing. AI strictly focuses on discussing the topic at hand, as opposed to a human generated writing, which would branch into other topics relating to the main subject.
Distinguishing between AI and human-written content involves analyzing several key factors such as tone, coherence, depth of thought, and error patterns. AI writing often exhibits a consistent tone, polished grammar, and structured formatting. But it may lack personal nuance, originality, or deep contextual insight. In contrast, human writing tends to reflect individual voices, emotional subtleties, and occasional inconsistencies that signal authentic thought processes. By using both linguistic cues and detection tools, teachers have the ability to make more accurate judgments about the origin of their students’ writing. However, as AI continues to evolve, the line between human and machine-authored text is becoming increasingly blurred. It is beginning to require a more sophisticated method of analysis and ethical consideration.
When writing about a specific topic human writing nearly always includes a personal anecdote to make it more personal for the reader. Here is an example of a human writing about their favorite book. “I love reading books, having read a lot of them since Kindergarten. But my all time favorite book is ‘Junie B. Jones‘. This is because I like the humor and how easy it was to read through.” Now let’s look at AI writing about a favorite book. “The Midnight Library is a novel about exploring alternate lives and the impact of our choices. It offers thoughtful insights on regret and self-discovery”.
Some may argue that they are unaware whether a piece of work was created by humans or constructed by AI due to the similarity in their writing. However, there is a definitive distinction between the two for those who have a good eye. When it comes to writing about a sunset, technology would be able to describe the feeling of such a view in a personable manner, as compared to a human being who would specify how such sights impacted them specifically. Human writing portrays emotional value, whereas AI prioritizes grammar, vocabulary, syntax, and sentence structure.
The difference is uncanny. When reading the examples above, a keen eye has the ability to observe the stiffness in an AI-generated passage while the human writing offers personability as shown through the story about favorite childhood books. Although everything said holds partial truth, there is an undoubtable difference in tone. These examples show the greatest struggle in distinguishing AI writing. The information is given in the prompt, and people have the ability to make slight changes to AI writing in a way that aligns with their authentic writing style. All that being said, we cannot overlook the fact that AI can be a helpful tool. The use of resources such as auto corrects, auto punctuations, prompt giver, and others assist in revisions and edits necessary toward accomplishing prior a final draft. As artificial intelligence evolves, it is steadily becoming the ‘brain’ rather than only the ‘arms’.
