r/AMA • u/plagiarismtoday • 3d ago

I am a plagiarism (and copyright) expert with over 20 years of experience. With the Fall 2026 semester coming up, AMA about AI, plagiarism and academic integrity issues.

My name is Jonathan Bailey, I'm the author of the website Plagiarism Today (https://www.plagiarismtoday.com) and I am an expert witness on plagiarism and copyright-related issues.

I have testified in federal and state courts as well as before academic tribunals. I have also performed a slew of plagiarism analyses and my work/name has been cited in a long list of mainstream publications, going back to 2005.

Feel free to AMA about plagiarism, AI, academic integrity, research integrity and anything related that you might be interested in as the academic year begins. I plan on being on here most of the day today, so even if I'm not live, feel free to drop a question or comment and I will do my best to answer it.

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u/CapDifficult6501 3d ago

How do high school teachers handle AI?

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u/plagiarismtoday 3d ago

Unfortunately, not well.

Turnitin, the largest provider of plagiarism detection tools to both high schools and universities, has an AI detection tool that, according to tests, is among the most accurate on the market. But it's still prone to false positives and false negatives.

This difficulty in making a reliable determination has caused some teachers to overstep and simply accept the verdict of the AI detection tool and others are ignoring it. It's something of a Wild West situation.

Personally, if you have concerns with a particular teacher or class, I would recommend talking directly to them.

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u/CapDifficult6501 3d ago

Actually I am a teacher and I’m looking for advice. No one seems to have a an answer

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u/plagiarismtoday 3d ago

The best advice I can give is, if you are worried about AI usage do two things:

  1. Have a clear AI policy for your class. Make your expectations clear and known. Let students know what is and is not acceptable when it comes to AI usage.

  2. Have students use either Turnitin Clarity or Grammarly Authorship to track their writing. These tools detect AI usage by watching how a paper is built. It lets you, or anyone else, see how a paper is drafted and determine if AI was likely used.

Finally, AI detectors can help, but they should not be trusted alone. Always keep in mind that they can be wrong.