AIgiarism is a term used to describe plagiarism committed through the use of artificial intelligence. Like plagiarism, the ethical concerns are over using content that may not be original but driven by AI algorithms that can pull information from other sources, which it may or may not cite correctly or at all.
The algorithms behind AI may pull from academic journals to blog posts or even previously generated AI content. AI detectors can be used to review text and see what parts might have been AI-generated. AI should be used as a writing assistant to brainstorm ideas, not as a creator, experts advise.
Deeper dive
AIgiarism is a form of bypass plagiarism, according to an August 2023 letter in the EXCLI journal. “The wrong of AIgiarism is not so much of inappropriate credit allocation, but the potential propagation of factual and interpretive errors as well as biases, which undermines knowledge acquisition and understanding,” said the writer, Bor Luen Tang, of the National University of Singapore.
For example, using ChatGPT responses in academic writing is a concern because ChatGPT does not have a conscious understanding of the content it generates and does not generate academic content autonomously, Tang wrote. ChatGPT also cannot take responsibility for its writings, he said. “ChatGPT-generated content should be vigorously checked for false information and inaccuracies,” he said.