Should Using an AI Text Generator to Produce Academic Writing Be Plagiarism?

Abstract

AI text generators are becoming increasingly sophisticated. In particular, the OpenAI ChatGPT chatbot is capable of responding to a prompt with text that appears remarkably sophisticated. Many people are concerned that AI text generators like ChatGPT will present a huge problem for educators, because it will soon become impossible for them to determine whether a text was produced by a student or an AI. Should we be worried? Is using AI to generate academic writing a form of plagiarism? Who knows. Why don't we ask the AI?

I "wrote" this article by asking ChatGPT the questions in bold and copying its responses. My conclusion is that we have little to worry about. If students can provide satisfactory answers to your questions by using an AI text generator, then you are asking superficial questions. And if an AI text generator can compete with your scholarship, then you are superficial thinker.

Keywords: AI, artificial intelligence, copyright, plagiarism, scholarship, pedagogy, trolling