The digital age has changed how we create and consume content. This has led to the use of AI tools to detect and prevent plagiarism and verify the originality of content. For teachers, AI detectors are designed to ensure that academic work is honest and trustworthy.
Here are a few of the best AI detectors for teachers we’ve come across over the last few months. Let’s see what AI detectors teachers use the most in 2024.
How Do AI Detectors Work? How Accurate are AI detectors?
AI detectors look at text for signs of content made by AI using advanced machine learning algorithms and natural language processing (NLP) methods. These tools look closely at writing styles, tone consistency, and the complexity of sentence patterns to find differences that usually mean the text was written by a computer.
Here are some methods AI detectors commonly used to detect AI-generated text:
- Perplexity & Burstiness: Perplexity measures text randomness, uncertainty, or complexity. Low perplexity results in more human-like sentences. Burstiness measures sentence structure predictability. High variance indicates a human-like substance.
- Classifiers: A classifier is a machine learning model that classifies data into specified groups. After training, classifiers can recognize textual patterns, including word usage, style, syntax, and tone.
- Embeddings: Vector and code embeddings quantify word meaning and relationships. Similar word codes are usually close together in human-written text. Since AI doesn’t understand word relationships, these codes may not be as closely grouped in AI-generated text.
So, are AI detectors accurate? The answer is most of them are. However, as we know, there is no AI detector that can guarantee 100% accuracy.
The Comparison of The Best AI Detectors for Teachers
| Best AI Detectors | Our Rating | Accuracy | False Negative Rate | Free |
| Winston AI | 4/5 | 99.5% | 5% | ✓ |
| CopyLeaks | 5/5 | 99% | 6% | ✓ |
| Originality AI | 5/5 | 94.06% | 2.8% | ✓ |
| Turnitin | 4/5 | 98% | 4% | ✘ |
| Undetectable AI | 4/5 | 90% | 2.2% | ✓ |
| Content at Scale | 3/5 | 98% | 7% | ✓ |
| Scibbr | 3/5 | 84% | 12% | ✘ |
| AI Detector Pro | 3/5 | No Info. | No Info. | ✓ |
| GPTZero | 3/5 | 80% | 10% | ✓ |
| Sapling | 2/5 | 97% | 3% | ✓ |
| GPTKit | 2/5 | 93% | 7% | ✓ |
Top 11 Best AI Detectors for Teachers in 2024 [We Tested Them All]
1. Winston AI – The Most Famous AI Detectors for Teacher
Winston AI is a powerful tool for educators to detect AI-generated content. It uses advanced machine learning algorithms and NLP techniques to compare writing styles against known AI trends and various sources. This helps to easily identify both direct AI plagiarism and more subtle AI-generated content.
Why Do Teachers Like It?
Winston AI is popular with teachers because it is accurate and easily connected to other classroom management tools. It helps them quickly check students’ work without interrupting the lesson. Winston AI is also simple to use and can be easily added to school routines. Its ability to give fast, accurate results with little effort is very helpful in busy schools.
In the latest update, teachers no longer have to create an account to use. However, signing up is highly recommended for increased functionality.
Accuracy and False Positive Rate
In Winston AI’s accuracy report, Winston AI announced that it can detect AI-written text 99.5% accurately. Testing against a large collection of AI-generated texts supports this result.
Winston AI has a 5% false positive rate and an 8% false negative rate, which shows its robustness and emphasizes the importance of considering context during analysis.
Winston AI’s Limitations:
- Struggles to read short texts with few contextual cues.
- No URL scanning feature
- Only Support France, German, Spanish, and English
- AI plagiarism is not available in a free account.
2. CopyLeaks – The Best Free AI Detector Online
Copyleaks is a widely used AI-powered tool that detects plagiarized and AI-generated content by employing semantic algorithms and stylometry. It recognizes patterns in text that are typical of AI-generated content. You can utilize Copyleaks online without the need to sign up, but it does have character limitations.
Why Do Teachers Like It?
Teachers like Copyleaks because it has a large database with academic papers and web material. This ensures that all student work goes through a thorough screening process. Multiple LMS systems, such as Canvas and Blackboard, can be integrated with it, making it a useful tool for schools.
Accuracy and False Positive Rate
This tool is 99% accurate at distinguishing AI-written work from human-produced texts. CopyLeaks also prides itself on being the AI detector with the lowest false positive rate.
“We tested over 20k human-written papers, and the rate of false positives was 0.2%, the lowest false positive rate of any platform.”
We asked GPT-4 to describe our website and used the content to test CopyLeaks. The result came out as expected in just a second.
The false negative rate is 6%, meaning AI-generated content can be missed, highlighting the necessity for manual review. This emphasizes the importance of periodically reviewing content by hand.
Limitations:
- Its more complex interface can be a barrier for less tech-savvy users
- Due to its high sensitivity, the detection methods used by the software can sometimes misinterpret complex student work as AI-generated.
- Limit on daily usage
- Plagiarism Detector is not available for free
3. Originality AI – The Best Free & Accurate AI Detector
Originality AI is recognized as the premier tool for detecting AI-generated content tailored for educational use, known for its accuracy and sophisticated technology designed to tackle the latest advancements in AI text generators.
Originality AI offers three modes: Standard 2.0, Turbo 3.0, and Multi Language. It first checks if the text is generated by AI, then compares it to a database of web pages to ensure it’s unique and authentic.
“Model 3.0 Turbo Released: 3.0 Turbo is the MOST accurate but can be sensitive. Use it if you have a very low tolerance for any AI being used! Use 2.0 Standard if some AI editing is allowed.”
Maybe You Are Interested: How To Get 50 Credits of Originality AI for Free?
Why Do Teachers Like It?
A popular feature of Originality AI among educators is its line-by-line highlighting. Green marks indicate that your content is human-written, while red ones indicate that it is AI-written.
Originality has all the features that teachers need, including Detect AI, Check AI plagiarism & Readability, and Fact Checker. It is even greater when users can use all of these features for free.
Accuracy & False Positive Rate
“We tested the trained model on documents generated by artificial intelligence models, including GPT-3, GPT-J, and GPT-NEO (20 thousand data each). Our model successfully identified 94.06% of the text created by GPT-3, 94.14% of text written by GPT-J, and 95.64% of text generated by GPT-Neo.”
Based on its accuracy test, Originality AI’s false positive rate is relatively low, at about 2.8%, and the false negative rate is even lower, at around 0.63%.
Limitations:
- While highly effective, Originality AI can be overly sensitive. It sometimes flags creative writing that deviates from normative patterns as suspicious, which might intimidate some users.
- A little bit expensive.
4. Turnitin – The Most Famous For Teachers and Schools
Turnitin is well-known for its plagiarism detection capabilities and has recently enhanced its technology to identify AI-generated text as well. So, can Turnitin detect Chat GPT? Turnitin’s AI detection has been trained to identify material from the GPT-3.0, GPT-3.5, and even GPT-4 (ChatGPT Plus) due to its similar writing style to previous model versions.
Why Do Teachers Like It?
Turnitin is praised for its extensive database and the depth of its reports which provide detailed insights into the originality of student submissions. Turnitin’s database spans various fields, such as anthropology, geology, and sociology, in addition to English, enabling it to detect plagiarism and AI-generated content in these areas.
Additionally, it works well with Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Blackboard or Canvas, so teachers can work in a setting they are already familiar with.
Related Articles: Can Canvas Detect Chat GPT? [Updated August 2024]
Accuracy and False Positive Rate
Turnitin detects AI-generated texts with a 98% accuracy rate, a low 4% false positive rate, and a 4% false negative rate.
Limitations
- Turnitin may have difficulty detecting AI-generated texts that closely resemble high-quality human writing, especially in advanced academic or technical documents.
- Turnitin doesn’t offer individual license purchases. Teachers or students can use Turnitin through schools or university accounts.
5. Undetectable AI – Best Free AI Detector and Humanize Tool
Undetectable AI is a free tool that combines human oversight with AI detection capabilities to identify AI-generated content. Undetectable AI is not limited to detecting ChatGPT; it also works with both free and paid AI detectors. This means it can read text from various AI writing tools, including GPT3, GPT4, Claude, Bard, and others.
What Makes Teachers Like Undetectable AI?
Undetectable AI detection combined with 8-in-1 AI detection, including GPTzero, OpenAI, Crossplag, Copyleaks, Sapling, Contentatscale, And ZeroGPT. Everyone loves free. And Undetectable AI lets you use all of these with no fees. However, it limits 1000 characters for each detection.
Its hybrid model reduces the incidence of false positives and improves the overall accuracy of the system.
Accuracy and False Positive Rate
There has been no announcement about this. However, based on our experience during the Undetectable AI review, it has an accuracy rate of around 90%.
The undetectable AI has a 2.2% false positive rate and a 1.8% false negative rate.
Limitations
- No plagiarism checker
- Not pointing out which text is being flagged as AI-written.
6. Content at Scale
Content at Scale is a tool praised for its effectiveness in identifying AI-generated text. The AI Detector will immediately determine if the text sounds like it was written by AI or a person. Then, an AI Humanizer will be used to make the writing look as much like human writing as possible, providing unique AI content.
Why Do Teachers Like It?
The Content at Scale website is great for teachers who do a lot of writing. It works well with other teaching tools, making it more efficient. Teachers like how easy it is to use, and its detailed reporting system finds errors and helps teachers understand and fix them.
Accuracy and False Positive Rate
In its accuracy announcement update, Content at Scale reports an accuracy rate of 98% in detecting AI writing texts.
Content at Scale has a 7% false positive rate and a 5% false negative rate.
Limitations
- Not only teachers but students can use these tools to humanize AI content features.
- May not work well with documents that replicate human stylistic faults or use advanced cloaking to hide AI origin.
- No URL and file scanning features.
7. Scibbr – Best Free AI Detector to Turnitin Alternative
Scibbr can detect both plagiarism and AI-generated content using textual analysis and pattern recognition. It primarily relies on keyword and phrase matches and checks submissions against academic papers and internet sources to identify plagiarized content. However, it lacks advanced NLP capabilities for deep AI content detection.
Why Do Teachers Like It?
Teachers appreciate Scibbr for its dual-purpose design, which makes it a practical tool for detecting both copied and AI-generated content. Its straightforward approach and direct reports are especially useful for plagiarism checking in high school and early college-level settings.
Accuracy and False Positive Rate
Scibbr detects AI-generated content with an overall accuracy of 84%, and its validation studies provide further details.
The false positive rate for Scibbr is relatively high at 12%, while the false negative rate is 9%.
Limitations
- Its performance can diminish when analyzing artistic or highly inventive texts, where standard patterns may not apply, and AI elements could be less obvious.
- Only 500 words at a time for a free plan.
- Lack of detailed explanation.
8. AI Detector Pro
AI Detector Pro stands out for its precision and depth in analyzing texts for AI-generated content using advanced AI technologies. It is a precise tool designed to identify artificial intelligence elements in written text, including syntax, structure, and processes, using advanced algorithms and stylometric analysis.
Why Do Teachers Like It?
AI Detector Pro provides a detailed report showing text created by AI. It also has a feature called AI Eraser that lets users change AI-generated text using suggestions from the AI. This tool can help teachers make suggestions and comments to better help their students. AI Detector Pro can also check website URLs, and the paid version offers a refund option.
Accuracy and False Positive Rate
Both of these are not information. However, when we tested it, AI Detector Pro could accurately detect AI written.
Limitations
- May miss AI texts from short content, where contextual analysis is less dependable
- No plagiarism checker
- Limited use in a free plan
- Sign-up required
9. GPTZero
GPTZero is known for quickly identifying AI-generated essays and articles by analyzing perplexity and burstiness. It uses these measures to determine the probability of AI involvement based on the predictability of the text. If a text shows high perplexity and low entropy, it suggests AI involvement because it indicates that the words used are less random and more predictable compared to human writing.
Maybe You Are Interested: Can GPTzero Detect QuillBot? We Tested 4 Modes to Prove!
Why Do Teachers Like It?
Teachers are fond of GPTZero for its straightforward approach and the clarity of its reporting, which not only flags AI-generated content but also explains the reasoning in accessible terms. Additionally, GPTZero is easy to use and does not require sign-up.
Accuracy and False Positive Rate
“In identifying AI-generated texts, GPTZero had an accuracy of 80%.” According to Farrokh Habibzadeh’s assignment.
According to Farrokh Habibzadeh’s assignment, GPTZero displays a low false-positive rate of 10% (identifying human-written texts as AI-generated) and a high false-negative rate of 35% (distinguishing AI-generated texts from human-written ones).
Limitations
- Lack of clear explanations for teachers
- Below-average accuracy
- No plagiarism checker
10. Sapling
grammar and style suggestions while also checking for plagiarism. It uses natural language processing (NLP) techniques to analyze textual coherence, stylistic anomalies, and grammar consistency. It looks for overly polished and uniform structures often generated by AI models.
Why Do Teachers Like It?
People like Sapling mainly because it does two things simultaneously. First, it helps students improve their writing. Second, it checks to make sure that their work is original. Teachers like it because it gives students helpful feedback to improve their writing skills.
Accuracy and False Positive Rate
Sapling’s accuracy rate for identifying AI-generated content is 97%, a statistic highlighted in its latest effectiveness report.
In our tests, 2/5 of the human-written content was mistakenly identified as AI-generated content, even though Sapling recommends keeping the False Positive rate below 3%.
Limitations
- May struggle with complex literary techniques or technical slang that covers AI characteristics.
- Low accuracy
- No plagiarism checker
- Lack of clear explanations
11. GPTKit
GPTKit is designed to identify content generated by GPT models using specialized algorithms tailored to this task. It specializes in identifying content generated by GPT models through stylometric and pattern recognition techniques that analyze writing for typical GPT characteristics.
Why Do Teachers Like It?
With GPTKit, teachers can detect AI-generated content more accurately than with other ChatGPT detection tools because it analyzes text using six different methods. GPTKit not only identifies AI-generated text but also provides teachers with reports on its authenticity and reality.
Accuracy and False Positive Rate
According to the data provided in their accuracy insights, GPTKit boasts an accuracy rate of 93% in flagging AI writing texts.
The false positive rate for GPTTKit is 7% and the false negative rate is 5%.
Limitations
- GPTKit is specialized, so it might not be as effective against non-GPT AI content.
- Limited Free Credits
How To Choose The Your Best AI Detector?
When selecting an AI detector for educational settings, it’s important to evaluate key aspects to ensure it meets the needs effectively. Here are the primary factors that we recommend teachers to consider:
- Versatility: The AI detector should integrate seamlessly with existing Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as Moodle, Blackboard, or Canvas, enhancing usability within educational infrastructures.
- Database Comprehensiveness: A detector is better at finding copied content if it has access to a large database with many different sources.
- False Positive and False Negative Rates: These rates must be balanced for accurate results. The accuracy of an AI detector depends on its false positive and false negative rates.
- Cost-effectiveness: Compare the cost of the tool to its capabilities. Even free tools should have useful features that do not come at an extra cost.
- Regulatory Compliance: Ensure the tool follows relevant data protection laws to prevent the theft or misuse of student data.
Final Thoughts
AI detectors for teachers are becoming indispensable tools for ensuring content integrity and originality. By choosing the right one, integrating it effectively, and fostering an ethical environment, educators can enhance education quality and academic honesty.
Most of the AI detectors above have a free plan or free trial; don’t waste it. If you have any questions about this, let us know in the comments. We would love to discuss further.
