AI double standard: Schools condemn ChatGPT but embrace Grammarly – bphawkeye.org
Everybody knows what AI is. The world has come to rely heavily on using multiple different AI platforms to perform everyday tasks, whether it be a school project or a simple “how do I make this recipe better?” It is slowly taking over the world, phone by phone, computer by computer.
The majority of teachers all around the world, if not all, forbid the use of ChatGPT and other AI platforms to get work done for classes.
As Adam Eisenberg reports for EdSource, he writes, “Many college professors have spoken out against AI’s use in college coursework, citing concerns of cheating, inaccurate responses, student overreliance on the tool, and, as a consequence, diminished critical thinking. Universities across the U.S. have implemented AI-detecting software like Turnitin to prevent cheating through the use of AI tools.”
But, this should raise a question that not many people know the answer to:
What about Grammarly?
Grammarly is used by students of all ages, teachers worldwide, and professionals in the workplace. It checks your spelling, fixes your grammar, and suggests ways to make sentences sound clearer. Teachers actually recommend their students to use Grammarly as a source to help with assignments that deal with writing in online documents.
But aren’t those tasks exactly what AI does?
What is Artificial Intelligence?
To dive more in-depth into this topic, an understanding of what actually counts as AI is needed. Artificial intelligence, by definition in Merriam Webster’s dictionary, is “the capability of computer systems or algorithms to imitate intelligent human behavior.”
ChatGPT, for example, uses algorithms and a significant amount of data to generate new ideas, which include writing entire essays, stories, or recipes from scratch to mimic human thoughts.
On the other side, Grammarly isn’t trying to mimic human behavior. However, it has algorithms designed to identify grammatical mistakes, detect styles, and suggest more effective sentence wordings. So, yes. It is powered by AI technology.
As a student journalist, using Grammarly helps correct the writing and creates a natural flow, even in this specific article. So does that mean I’ve used AI on this article? Will it be flagged under AI detection for using Grammarly?
AI-Detection and How it Works
Most AI-detection tools, like Turnitin or GPTZero, are designed to spot generated text, which is writing that appears to have been created entirely by a machine. Grammarly doesn’t actually generate full ideas. It edits what’s already written. Because of that, does its involvement go unnoticed by AI detectors?
AI enthusiast and professor of English Steven Marsden states: “If you tinker with something Grammarly suggests, then Turnitin won’t mark it, but if you just click accept on big stuff like sentence structures… well, that is technically AI writing your stuff.”
As a result of this, there are many reports of students getting marked with failing grades after their work was flagged for AI usage simply because Grammarly made significant edits.
Marley Stevens, a junior at the University of North Georgia at the time, posted a TikTok that was a public service announcement to any college student to warn them not to use Grammarly if their professor would be checking for AI in a detection system.
Stevens explains how her professor in a criminal justice course she took gave her a zero on a paper because he claimed that Turnitin flagged it as AI-written. Stevens insists she composed it herself, except for using the standard grammar and spell-checking features from Grammarly.
As a result of the grade, she explains how her final grade for the class fell low enough that it kept her from being able ot qualify for a HOPE Scholarship. The university placed her on academic probation for violating its policies, and she was required to pay for a seminar about cheating.
Why the Double Standard?
So why the double standard? Why do schools ban tools like ChatGPT but still encourage the use of Grammarly, even though Stevens’s report proves it gets flagged under AI detection?
ChatGPT can easily replace learning, while Grammarly encourages learning. ChatGPT can create entire pieces of work while Grammarly simply refines the writing process. As AI continues to evolve, maybe the real question isn’t which tools to use but how and why people use them?
For better or for worse, AI isn’t going anywhere. Moving into a future that’s becoming heavily reliant on technology, universities and schools all around the world have to come to a better understanding of artificial intelligence and how to clearly define the border between cheating and learning.
Just to prove this point that no one seems to be talking about, ZeroGPT reported back that my article is 24.88% AI, with sentences highlighted that I had used Grammarly to help restructure and the titles I used to divide the text up, which is a pattern often found in AI. Grammarly AI Detection reported back with 0% AI.
A better solution is needed.
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