Turnitin, plagiarism, AI similarity index and AI-generated content : a discussion

Abstract

Abstract Plagiarism is one of the unwritten epidemics in the academia. Fortunately, plagiarism detection software such as Turnitin has been developed to counter the prevalence of plagiarism. The use of Turnitin alone has reduced blatant forms of plagiarism, but it has certain limitations Furthermore, training is necessary to maintain academic integrity. Students have various reasons to plagiarize. Some of them involve deliberate acts while some others refer to lack of skills. Students are not the only ones to be held responsible for maintaining academic integrity. The institutions and faculty have obligations as well. Turnitin is preferred for the fact that its release of similarities scores is consistent with quantitative expectations of stakeholders. The focus, on the other hand, should be on writing skills development rather plagiarism detection only. In that sense, Turnitin is based on a negative understanding of human psychology which is inconsistent with the positive psychology movement. The new challenge for Turnitin is the AI-generated content. Turnitin responded by introducing AI similarity index which needs more research. In this paper these issues relevant for Turnitin and academic integrity are discussed.