Overviewing the Maze of Research Integrity and False Positives Within AI-Enabled Detectors

Abstract

Academic writing in the current times is significantly different from what it was a decade ago. Most prevalent in today's digital world is the disruption caused by Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools employed to assist in writing academic works. In this chapter, we overview the ongoing trend of the ethical challenge and implications of using AI-text detection systems for fostering academic and research integrity. Using current literature on the topic, the chapter has presented real-world cases where individuals have complained that AI-text detection platforms like that provided by Turnitin have flagged (as AI-generated) the content that was edited using language AI assistive tools like Grammarly and language translators. Furthermore, by reviewing the up-to-date empirical studies, we have presented an overview of the false-positive scenario of these AI-text detection tools and their biases towards non-native English writers. Finally, the chapter provides, besides the future outlook of the topic, the practical implications, including the consideration of fair and transparent AI-based tool usage policies.