TURNITIN: The AI Writing Detection
Turnitin's AI writing detection capability is designed to help educators identify text that might be prepared by a generative AI tool such as large-language models, chatbots, and word spinners.
Our AI writing detection model may not always be accurate (it may misidentify human-written, AI-generated, and AI-generated and AI-paraphrased text), so it should not be used as the sole basis for adverse actions against a student. It takes further scrutiny and human judgment in conjunction with an organization's application of its specific academic policies to determine whether any academic misconduct has occurred.
The percentage generated by Turnitin’s AI writing detection model is different, and independent of, the similarity score. AI writing highlights are not visible in the Similarity Report.
 
The overall percentage detected as AI indicates the qualifying text (prose sentences contained in a long-form writing format) within the submitted document that Turnitin’s AI writing detection model determines could be generated by AI or could be generated by AI and could be further paraphrased using AI tools such as a word spinner.
The overall percentage of text detected as AI is detailed in two detection categories in the Submission Breakdown:
AI-generated only - This category detects qualifying text that was likely generated from a Large Language Model (LLM). Text of this category is highlighted in a cyan color in the submission breakdown bar and in the submission.
* AI-generated text that was AI-paraphrased - This category detects qualifying text that was likely AI-generated and then likely modified by an AI-paraphrasing tool or AI word spinner, such as Quillbot. Text of this category is highlighted in a purple color in the submission breakdown bar and in the submission.
|| Please note that only our English AI detector includes AI paraphrasing detection capabilities, at this time our Spanish and Japanese AI detectors do not include AI paraphrasing detection capabilities.
Use the new submission breakdown bar for a visual overview of where an AI Large Language Model and AI-paraphrasing tools have been detected within the individual pages of a submission. The bar is interactive and allows you to select each color highlight to bring the corresponding text and page of the submission into focus.
Qualifying text (prose sentences contained in long-form writing format) means individual sentences contained in paragraphs that make up a longer piece of written work, such as an essay, a dissertation, or an article, etc. The model does not reliably detect AI-generated text in the form of non-prose, such as poetry, scripts, or code, nor does it detect short-form/unconventional writing such as bullet points, tables, or annotated bibliographies.
This means that a document containing several different writing types would result in a disparity between the percentage and the highlights.
Source: https://guides.turnitin.com/hc/en-us/articles/28457596598925-AI-writing-detection-in-the-classic-report-view
Our AI writing detection model may not always be accurate (it may misidentify human-written, AI-generated, and AI-generated and AI-paraphrased text), so it should not be used as the sole basis for adverse actions against a student. It takes further scrutiny and human judgment in conjunction with an organization's application of its specific academic policies to determine whether any academic misconduct has occurred.
The percentage generated by Turnitin’s AI writing detection model is different, and independent of, the similarity score. AI writing highlights are not visible in the Similarity Report.
The AI writing indicator
When you open a Similarity Report, the AI writing indicator is in the side panel. After a short period of processing, the indicator will display one of three potential states:
 The AI writing report
Overall percentage detected as AI
The overall percentage detected as AI indicates the qualifying text (prose sentences contained in a long-form writing format) within the submitted document that Turnitin’s AI writing detection model determines could be generated by AI or could be generated by AI and could be further paraphrased using AI tools such as a word spinner.
The Submission Breakdown
The overall percentage of text detected as AI is detailed in two detection categories in the Submission Breakdown:
AI-generated only - This category detects qualifying text that was likely generated from a Large Language Model (LLM). Text of this category is highlighted in a cyan color in the submission breakdown bar and in the submission.
* AI-generated text that was AI-paraphrased - This category detects qualifying text that was likely AI-generated and then likely modified by an AI-paraphrasing tool or AI word spinner, such as Quillbot. Text of this category is highlighted in a purple color in the submission breakdown bar and in the submission. || Please note that only our English AI detector includes AI paraphrasing detection capabilities, at this time our Spanish and Japanese AI detectors do not include AI paraphrasing detection capabilities.Interactive submission breakdown bar
Use the new submission breakdown bar for a visual overview of where an AI Large Language Model and AI-paraphrasing tools have been detected within the individual pages of a submission. The bar is interactive and allows you to select each color highlight to bring the corresponding text and page of the submission into focus.
What is qualifying text?
Qualifying text (prose sentences contained in long-form writing format) means individual sentences contained in paragraphs that make up a longer piece of written work, such as an essay, a dissertation, or an article, etc. The model does not reliably detect AI-generated text in the form of non-prose, such as poetry, scripts, or code, nor does it detect short-form/unconventional writing such as bullet points, tables, or annotated bibliographies.
This means that a document containing several different writing types would result in a disparity between the percentage and the highlights.
Source: https://guides.turnitin.com/hc/en-us/articles/28457596598925-AI-writing-detection-in-the-classic-report-view
Updated on: 13/05/2025
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