The term artificial intelligence was first coined almost 70 years ago. However, the average person didn’t think much about it until a couple of years ago when generative AI tools became widely available. Today, AI has changed our lives in countless ways.
Around 55% of people have admitted to using AI on a regular basis. AI has been integrated into business processes, such as developing website content, drafting emails and creating code to automate various desktop functions. One of the biggest ways that we are seeing AI transform our lives is with website content. One recent report shows that 90% of all website content will be made with generative AI by 2026.
As AI becomes more sophisticated, it is going to be harder to tell the difference between content created with AI and that written by humans. Fortunately, AI detectors are making the process a lot easier.
How AI Detectors Make it Easier to Tell When Content is Made with AI or Humans
An AI detector is a program that is designed to tell whether text was generated by AI or a person. How does it accomplish this task?
These tools rely on massive datasets of documents. Some of the documents are made with AI, while others are created by people. They use sophisticated machine learning tools to look for differences between both types of content.
There are several things that they look for:
- They are trained to notice that certain words are used much more frequently in content made with AI. They are more likely to flag text as being AI generated if it has a lot of these words.
- They also look for burstiness. This means that the structure and length of words, sentences and paragraphs varies throughout the document. Content generated with AI tends to have a uniform structure and follows a similar pattern. Documents with low levels of burstiness will be more likely to be flagged as being AI generated.
- They look for predictability. Content that is made with AI generative tools tends to follow the same train of thought and share similar ideas, since it relies on datasets that it has already been trained on. It can’t easily come up with new ideas, which makes the content more predictable. Therefore, an AI detector can tell if content is made with AI or not because it has a high predictability score.
- AI detectors are able to identify certain patterns that show up in AI generated content. For example, words that are in close proximity to each other tend to start with the same letter. Text that has these patterns is more likely to be flagged as being AI generated.
AI detectors are not perfect, but they are reasonably accurate. They are also getting better at distinguishing text generated from humans from that developed by AI. Of course, there are ways to avoid AI detection, but many people creating AI content don’t bother to use them.
What Are Some of the Reasons AI Detection is Becoming Important?
AI detectors are going to become increasingly important as more content is developed with AI. Some of the important purposes they will serve include the following.
Improving Authenticity
Many people want to hear original thoughts from other humans. If they are reading an op-ed or social media post about the local restaurant scene in their city, political opinions about an upcoming election or stories about online dating culture, they want to hear the thoughts of someone they can relate with.
AI technology is making it harder to differentiate genuine stories about the human experience with bogus accounts created by AI. This can lead to a dystopian situation where nobody trusts that the shared experiences they are reading are genuine anymore.
This is where AI detectors can be important. They can help assure people that they are reading genuine stories. This may help restore trust in online content.
Protecting Real Artists
One of the biggest reasons that people oppose content made with AI is that they feel that it undervalues real artists and writers. One of the biggest complaints is that AI is trained on content without the consent of the creators. Therefore, many people are pushing back against AI content to protect human content creators, despite the fact that AI is not replacing content creators.
AI detectors help people that are concerned about rewarding real writers and artists. They can prioritize using platforms that don’t use AI.
Fighting Phishing and Astroturfing
Many unscrupulous people are also using AI for harmful purposes. Scammers are using AI to create emails for phishing campaigns. Political propagandists are using AI to spread misinformation.
AI detectors are making it easier to identify this nefarious content. This can help fight phishing and other types of dangerous content.
AI Detectors Are Essential for Protecting the Integrity of Content
AI content is becoming more widely available than ever. The good news is that AI detectors help people tell the difference between content made with AI and that written by humans.
