The Tools We Trust Are Letting Us Down
We’re at a tipping point in education. AI is here, it’s powerful, and students are using it.
But the systems we use to detect AI , including tools such as Turnitin, are falling behind.
✅ They’re inaccurate: AI detectors frequently misclassify both AI-generated and human-written content (Perkins et al., 2024).
❌ They’re biased: Non-native English speakers are disproportionately flagged as using AI, simply because of their writing style (Zou et al., 2023).
Truszkowska, K. (2025). AI in Academic Writing: How to teach and assess critical thinking skills in the age of AI. Presented at: TESOL Conferences and Exhibitions, University of Sharjah, 18–20 April 2025.
So, here’s my position. I no longer rely on AI detection tools.
I rely on something better and that is authentic engagement with students.
How Do I Identify AI Use Without Detectors?
When students share drafts with me, I can often tell when AI has been involved. Not because I’m a tech wizard but because the signs are humanly intuitive:
- The writing is overly polished, but strangely impersonal
- The structure is clean but lacks cognitive struggle
- The voice doesn’t match the student I know
So I ask. Gently. Without accusation.
And students often admit it: “Yes, I used ChatGPT.”
This Isn’t About “Catching” Anyone
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
✨ Students aren’t trying to cheat.
✨ They’re responding to assessment systems that aren’t keeping pace with technology.
If students turn to AI, maybe the real question is: What are our tasks asking of them and why?
AI-Vulnerable or AI-Resistant?
I challenge school and university leaders to reflect:
🔹 Have your assessments become AI-vulnerable by design?
🔹 Are you asking students to truly demonstrate knowledge, or just to generate content?
🔹 Do your assignments demand original thought, critical analysis, and personal insight – the kind of work AI still struggles to replicate?
🔹 Are educators equipped with enough time, training, and context to recognise their students’ authentic voices?
Rethinking, Not Rejecting, AI
This is not a call to ban AI.
It’s a call to rethink assessment.
We need to build environments where real thinking matters more than polished output, where students aren’t tempted to outsource their work because the work itself is too engaging, too challenging, to give away.
Because the future of education isn’t about detecting shortcuts.
It’s about designing pathways that make shortcuts irrelevant.
Let’s Build AI-Resistant Learning Together
If you’re an educator, policymaker, or student who wants to co-create a future where AI supports learning, not weakens it, let’s talk.
📩 Contact me at kasia@oaoe.co.uk or send a message here on LinkedIn.
Let’s stop asking how to catch students.
Let’s start asking how to challenge them.
