The validity of automatic AI detection is currently impossible to guarantee. No software will detect AI-generated content with 100% accuracy. AI detectors miss AI-generated content quite often. At the same time, it is not uncommon for them to flag human-written content as AI-generated. Both types of errors can be highly problematic and consequential.
Furthermore, AI-detecting software in its present state often raises equity and privacy concerns. Research suggests that AI detectors are more likely to flag content that was created by non-native English writers. Studies are underway to see if there is a similar bias against neurodivergent writers. This makes automatic AI detection potential liability for educators and institutions.
Turnitin
The AI detection functionality within Turnitin, originally available to Montclair Canvas users, was officially discontinued on November 20, 2023.
This decision was made following similar ones by many other universities, including Vanderbilt, Michigan State, Northwestern, and the University of Texas at Austin. Turnitin has acknowledged that its product may have a higher error rate than was initially suggested.
Other AI-Detection Tools
At this point, we advise against uploading or pasting student writing into third-party tools and platforms not supported by the University, as it is likely to cause a major breach of student data safety. If you choose to use one of such third-party tools, it’d be safer to obtain students’ consent first. Also please bear in mind that, regardless of the tool you use, the results you get are not going to be fully reliable.
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Solutions
If you suspect that one of your students’ submissions is AI-generated, we recommend the following:
- check manually for the red flags typical for AI writing: factual errors in combination with uncharacteristically polished writing, coherent knowledge far beyond undergraduate level, excessively wordy and inefficient written expression.
- consider multiple red flags and the student’s broader context and writing history. Each of these red flags can occur in human writing occasionally.
- talk to the student about their submission
- real-time conversation (in-person or on zoom) instead of email;
- discuss the submission from a non-assuming standpoint: most of the time, it is hard to know whether AI has indeed been used — even if you are using an automatic AI detector.
- invite the student to engage in meta-cognition, as in AI-rich environments process thinking can be more informative than product.
- ask highly specific questions about the submission, targeting the parts of the submission that alarmed you.
Further guidance on responding to instances of suspected academic dishonesty is found on the OFE webpage Academic Dishonesty and Student Cheating under the “Strategies that Work” section, and in the recording of Just for Adjuncts: Demystifying the Academic Dishonesty Process: An OFE Partners Session with Director of Student Conduct Christopher Trautman (NetID required).
Last Modified: Thursday, June 25, 2026 2:07 pm
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