With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, AI tools have found a place in education– whether welcome or not. This rapid integration and use by teachers and students has brought with it widespread concern around plagiarism and cheating. In fact, a district director of technology told us in June 2024 that they blocked all uses of AI by students. These concerns are valid, especially after seeing the way large language model sites like ChatGPT or Gemini, designed for the purpose of generating content, can create full essays, complete assignments, and write pages of copy in less than a minute with a simple user request, known as an AI prompt.
On the other hand, the issue enters a gray area because AI-generated content is not the original work of any one person. Rather, it is a unique output developed when the technology scrubs thousands of sources, recognizes patterns, sorts information, and quickly compiles that information to respond uniquely to what a user wants. This raises important questions about the nature of plagiarism and the ethical use of AI in education. It also highlights the necessity of teaching responsible and ethical use of technology while prompting many to reconsider and even redefine the traditional definition of plagiarism in the age of AI.
Redefining Plagiarism in the Age of AI
According to dictionary.com, plagiarism is, “an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author’s work as one’s own.” It is something students are taught at a young age is prohibited and unethical when completing an assignment or writing a paper. We teach students to acknowledge the work of others when completing a research assignment or citing a text and they learn to give credit when credit is due. The importance of citing sources won’t change with the use of AI, but the binary nature of what is and is not plagiarism should change.
Dr. Sarah Elaine Eaton began to tackle this topic in her book, Plagiarism in Higher Education: Tackling Tough Topics in Academic Integrity (2021). She argues that AI will bring us to a post-plagiarism world, a time in which humans and technology ethically co-author texts. In addition to normalizing hybrid human-AI writing, Eaton also suggests other important tenants that should be a part of the redefinition of plagiarism (Figure 1). This includes the continued importance of source attribution, the responsibility of a user to stay in control of content, the possibility of lowering (or even dissolving) language barriers, and seeing this technological revolution as an opportunity to enhance, rather than diminish, human creativity.
Figure 1 (Eaton, 2023)
It is important to realize that these tenants and shifts won’t just happen on their own. It requires we learn what hybrid writing can look like, that we practice this type of writing in low-stake situations, and come to understand the difference between entering a prompt and having AI do the work versus co-creating something with a thoughtful back-and-forth. Knowing that entire task completion by another source is very different than task assistance and realizing that in some instances the content created with several back-and-forth interactions and some creative thinking is better than it could have been without the use of AI.
A group of teachers decided to explore the idea of hybrid writing by first starting with a non-example, using the prompt, “write an essay on the importance of summer reading.” In Figure 2 you will see this resulted in a basic five-paragraph essay that lacks any clear audience or unique author voice. From here they started to explore what an essay on the same topic would look like if they were more creative in their prompt and attempted a human-AI hybrid style of writing. In the prompt they defined the essay’s audience, wrote what they wanted the thesis statement to be, started drafting some content that should be included, and even gave a structure or flow the writing should follow. Each teacher engaged in several back-and-forth prompts which lead to a much different end result, shown in Figure 3.
Figure 2 (OpenAI, 2024)
Figure 3 (OpenAI, 2024)
Teaching Student About Plagiarism in the Age of AI
Teaching students to properly credit sources and ethically complete assignments is important with or without the influx of artificial intelligence tools. That said, the rise of AI and the ease of use of these tools have highlighted new plagiarism issues and brought concerns to the forefront, providing an opportunity to make sure we are diligently addressing and teaching these topics to students. It might seem like enough to teach students to cite sources and enforce zero-tolerance plagiarism policies, but neither approach truly explains what plagiarism is, why it matters, and the complexities involved in the age of AI. By thoughtfully teaching these topics, we can foster a deeper understanding of plagiarism and prepare students for the ethically challenges they are likely to face in the future.
In The Artificial Intelligence Playbook: Time-Saving Tools for Teachers that Make Learning More Engaging (Hargrave, Fisher, and Frey, 2024), we suggest approaching this by leaning on the work of Vosen (2008), who suggested using Bloom’s Taxonomy to create a unit or series of lessons focused on teaching students about plagiarism. Approaching this topic with students by progressively increasing levels of complexity helps them develop the deeper understanding mentioned above. Figures 4 and 5 show what these steps might look like–beginning with a basic understanding of the topic and advancing towards student-generated guidelines and agreements developed through prior lessons. Whether you follow this series of lessons or create one with your colleagues, planning for this type of instruction is crucial.
Figure 4 (Armstrong, 2010)
Figure 5 (Hargrave, Fisher, & Frey, 2024)
It is important to note that while teaching about plagiarism has always been essential, it is now more critical than ever. Over the past decade, teachers at various levels have relied on plagiarism detection tools such as Turnitin.com or Quetext.com, sometimes requiring students to run their work through these sites before submission. Although this approach has helped reduce plagiarism in many high schools and universities, it is no longer as reliable. AI-generated content is unique to each user, and these detection tools may not accurately identify it as plagiarism. As mentioned above, depending on the amount of prompting or user input involved, AI-generated content might even be considered the user’s original work. Raising awareness and working to mitigate the misuse of technology provide opportunities to go beyond the guardrails of existing detection tools.
As artificial intelligence continues to be increasingly used in education and integrated more deeply in daily functions and practices, looking closely at how we define plagiarism and deciding what is ethical in its use becomes imperative. Just as ethical standards have evolved around accessing music online or using calculators to complete a math assignment, so too will the role of chatbots as thought partners or assistants in the years ahead. This does not lessen the importance of empowering students to develop original thought and critical thinking skills, rather, it signifies a shift in how these skills are fostered and the importance for educators to put careful through into the right shifts to make. Let’s use our own creativity and critical thinking to navigate these changes thoughtfully, ensuring that AI enhances academic integrity and overall student development.
References
Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom’s Taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [June, 2024] from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/
Eaton, S. E. (2024, June). 6 tenets of post-plagiarism: Writing in the age of artificial intelligence. Learning, Teaching and Leadership. Retrieved from https://drsaraheaton.wordpress.com/
Hargrave, J., Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2024). The artificial intelligence playbook: Time-saving tools to make learning more engaging. Corwin.
Vosen, M. A. (2008). Using Bloom’s taxonomy to teach students about plagiarism. The English Journal, 97(6), 43–46.
