As part of your arsenal against the overuse of artificial intelligence, one of the most important tools to be familiar with is an AI detector. These tools use advanced technologies to determine whether content has been created using artificial intelligence or if it has been written by a human.
Dealing with these tools can be a pain, especially when you use unreliable ones that give inaccurate results. But they also have several benefits.
Since these models have become common in different contexts, it’s critical to be familiar with how they work and how much weight they have in the quality and originality of your writing. In turn, this can help you master AI detectors – rather than having them master you.
How Do AI Detectors Work?
AI detection tools work by using various techniques to check whether written content is AI-generated or written by a human.
An AI detector utilizes natural language processing (NLP) techniques and machine learning algorithms to analyze certain patterns in the text that are typically considered markers for AI-generated content.
Generally, tools like this use several important methods to detect content that has been created by an AI model, including:
- Linguistic analysis: This typically involves the detection tools assessing the semantic meaning (the meaning of the language that is used) and the tendency of the text to repeat itself. AI-generated content usually repeats itself and doesn’t always have a good understanding of semantic meaning.
- Comparison to AI text: AI content detection tools can also compare text to AI-generated samples that they are already familiar with. If they find similarities between these samples and the text you’re checking, it could suggest that at least part of the content is AI-generated.
- Classifiers: A classifier is a type of machine learning model that sorts data into predefined categories. These models examine language patterns (including words, grammar, style, and tone) to detect AI content.
- Embeddings: Embeddings are special codes that machines use to understand words. These codes help to place words in a structured space where those with similar meanings are grouped. Machine learning models then use these codes to sort text into different categories. For instance, it can be classified as ‘spam’ or ‘not spam’.
- Perplexity: Perplexity refers to how confused a detection model is when it ‘reads’ something new. Less perplexing text normally indicates that content is AI-generated since it’s more predictable. More perplexing content may be less likely to be flagged for AI.
- Burstiness: An AI detection tool may also look at the ‘burstiness’ of the sentence structure of the text. This includes how varied the length and structure of each sentence are. Human written text usually has a variation of shorter and longer sentence lengths, and writers use different structures to better convey what they’re saying.
What Kind Of Content Is Flagged By Detection Tools?
So, we know how AI detection works and what kind of patterns and factors it looks for to determine whether something is written by a human – or not. With Smodin’s AI Content Detector, you can get these results seconds after providing your text.
But if your text comes back with flags that cause it to be perceived as AI, the question you’re probably asking is: why?
There are a few different types of content that are more likely to be considered to be AI-generated. By knowing and understanding these types, you can avoid AI detection and make your content seem more human. These types include (but are not limited to):
- Repetitive text: When AI generates text, it’s more likely to repeat itself. Whether it accidentally duplicates words or phrases (even if it’s phrased differently), it creates a pattern that AI detection picks up on. In reality, human-written text will have less repetition. Humans also use more varied language in everyday speech.
- Unusual vocabulary: We write as we speak – regardless of the tone of the text. In human speech patterns, there are certain words that are more likely to be used in specific contexts. So, when there are strange or uncommon words used in content, it probably won’t pass AI detection.
- Predictable patterns: When we write, we want to keep the attention of our readers, right? This encourages us to change our writing style to keep them interested in what we have to say. Machines like AI generators, on the other hand, aren’t worried about this. The content that they produce is often very monotonous and predictable, making it less engaging.
- Unchanging sentence length or structure: Sentence variety is another important factor in human-written content. However, AI generators usually use a repetitive pattern of sentence structures or lengths that may be picked up by detectors. If your content is too similar or there’s no variation in your sentences, it may be flagged as AI writing.
Why Do We Need AI Detectors?
But why do we need to use AI content detection tools? There are several reasons behind this that depend on where content will be used – whether it’s in educational institutions, publications, or for more general use.
Of course, it can be difficult to circumvent this new ‘AI landscape’ we’re facing, where almost every piece of written content that is submitted is checked through an AI tool. Still, they can be invaluable for several reasons, including:
Quality assurance
Detector tools can help us to assess the overall quality of a piece of writing. While plenty of people rely on AI writing, it’s important to remember that AI generators like ChatGPT are still evolving.
This means that AI-generated text can still have major inconsistencies in its relevance, coherence, and overall quality.
Some AI tools may not only help make your content sound less robotic, but they can also pick out content that may fall short of the standards of human-written content.
Authenticity
Since artificial intelligence is becoming more commonplace, it can get pretty tricky to tell AI and human writing apart. This can help to give content authenticity, which is particularly important for text published online. Although online publications can post AI-generated text, it’s important that their readers know when they’re reading something produced by models like ChatGPT.
It may be important to note that plenty of content producers use an AI tool to aid in their writing, whether it is for research, outlines, or editing. In these cases, the content is not considered to be AI-generated. This content should also pass AI detection, though, since it is written and usually fact-checked by a human who is writing alongside the AI model.
Plagiarism detection
AI content detectors are widely used by businesses, educational institutions, and content creators. The main reason that they rely on these tools is to ensure that their content contains no plagiarism.
Some AI content detectors may be able to flag cases where text has been used without the proper attribution, and even when human writing has been wrongly flagged as AI writing.
Compliance
Some industries and platforms have rules or guidelines around the use of AI-generated content. For example, digital marketing companies may have rules for their writers to produce human-written text that passes an AI detection check.
In turn, this can help to prevent AI content from being misused or generated dishonestly.
Preventing unintentional harm
Text generators typically use a database of information to supply users with responses to their prompts and questions. However, this information isn’t always accurate. At the same time, some AI models may provide responses that are biased and inappropriate in relation to the prompt that you feed it.
For instance, when you ask ChatGPT for a list of DIY cleaning products, it may suggest mixing vinegar and baking soda. While it’s not unsafe to do this, this cleaner isn’t very effective, and using vinegar on certain textiles can cause damage.
Although this is a relatively simple example, it illustrates how unhelpful AI writing may be. And, when it comes to your finances or health, inaccurate information may be harmful.
How Accurate Are AI Detectors?
AI content detectors use advanced technologies like machine learning and natural language processing. Through these procedures, they’re able to detect artificially-written content and come back with a result – either human-passing, an uncertain result (both human and machine writing have been used), or AI-generated content.
However, these tools aren’t exactly foolproof. In fact, they may often be wrong and produce false positives and false negatives. And, depending on which AI content detectors you use, you could get wildly different results.
Ultimately, there are several reasons why AI writing detectors can’t be 100% accurate, including:
Varying accuracy
There are tons of popular AI detectors on the market that range from basic, free-to-use online services with word count caps to paid tools that can check higher volumes of text. But since there are so many tools out there (that also use different models and algorithms to detect AI-generated text), it can be tricky to get consistent results.
For instance, your text may pass as being written by a human if you use Tool X, while Tool Y may produce results that claim your content is AI-generated. Unfortunately, since there is no way to know which tool is more accurate, getting definitive results may be difficult.
False positives or negatives
Since there are still some ‘kinks’ that need to be ironed out with these AI models, it can often come up with false negatives and positives. This is a direct result of the model’s training data, and how well (or poorly) it has been trained to recognize patterns.
A false negative is when the detector shows no trace of AI-generated content when, in fact, the text does contain AI writing. In some cases, text that has been entirely written by AI may even pass as being human-written.
On the other hand, a false positive is when the detector flags a piece of content for being generated by AI when it was entirely written by a human.
How the type of detection model influences AI scores
AI tools are growing at lightning speed, with advancements and new models being introduced all the time. For example, ChatGPT had already released ChatGPT-3 and ChatGPT-4 within a year of launching, which illustrates just how quickly this technology is being updated.
Of course, when something grows at this speed, it means that the tools that are related to it – in this case, detection technologies – need to grow just as quickly. However, not every AI detection model is up-to-date with the latest advancements in AI generators. Similarly, they may not be familiar with the patterns and hallmarks of all of the generators on the market.
For instance, a detector may be able to accurately flag content generated by ChatGPT, but may not pick up on AI-generated text written by another tool, like Bard.
FAQs
Can AI tell one AI model from another?
Generally, most AI models (including detectors) can be trained to differentiate between different AI generators based on patterns or characteristics in the content they produce. Still, their task may become harder as AI generators keep evolving. Some models may also have similar outputs, which makes telling them apart even more challenging.
However, when it comes to telling AI models apart, the effectiveness of detectors ultimately depends on how sophisticated their detection algorithms are.
Is there a way to make content feel more human and less AI?
If you’re using an AI tool as a writing aid, you may be worried about your content being flagged as AI. Luckily, there are several ways to make any level of AI content seem more human. These include:
- Rewriting any AI content in your own words.
- Using tools like AI content detection removers or Smodin’s Text Rewriter.
- Using AI writing tools to help with your writing rather than relying on it to write it for you.
- Fact-checking the content and editing any inaccurate or false information.
- Changing up your sentence structure and length.
Final Thoughts
At Smodin, AI is our bread and butter. That’s why we wanted to share our expert insight on AI detection models – to help you improve your writing while also learning why it may be flagged, and how to navigate detectors to get more accurate results.
It’s important to remember that the results from these detectors should always be taken with a pinch of salt. After all, there are many of them that could generate false reports of AI use.
If you want more accurate results, be sure to check out our services and blogs so that you can take full advantage of these resources in the right way. With Smodin, you can start writing your content with confidence – every time.