Why AI essay generator is a bad option for essay writing? Tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI) have recently emerged as an entirely new solution to the long-lasting problem of processing enormous amounts of data in a short period of time. Previously, AI seemed to be a miracle, an almighty technology capable of transforming not only the digital field but science as a whole. After the introduction of ChatGPT, one of the first AI-powered tools with free open access, people also realized that AI could be used basically for everything.
Users found that ChatGPT and other text-generating AI websites could be used for education, and academic writing faced an unprecedented challenge. However, are all these AI-generated texts flawless? Apart from academic integrity, an AI essay generator provides plagiarism risk, low authenticity in writing, and outdated information. Essay personalization was also threatened since AI tools don’t have human imagination and cannot adapt to unique tones.
Let’s dive deeper into these issues and figure out if the risks are worth it and what learning opportunities you are missing.
Is Lack of Authenticity and Originality in AI-Generated Essays an Issue?
Authenticity and originality are what create value in an essay and help to distinguish thoughts, ideas, and conclusions. An AI essay generator cannot provide it due to the technical limitations of language models. They form outputs based on enormous volumes of information and can provide information in seconds but fail to grasp the essence of writing. Authenticity in writing is shaped through emotions, opinions, perceptions, and experiences inherent to people, not programs.
If you ask an AI essay generator to provide a personal opinion, it will admit to its inability to do so. However, it does not take much time to persuade ChatGPT, for example, to imitate human reflection. As you can see in the pictures below, an AI generator illustrates a complete absence of authenticity, providing only general facts wrapped with personal pronouns and many adjectives. Apparently, a person would provide an entirely different response to such a simple question, which would be unique, authentic, and original.
All joking aside, the academic environment aims to prepare educated individuals who could use their skills and knowledge to make valuable contributions. This sphere strives for new ideas, insights, and conclusions that will fuel people’s interest in exploring the world. A unique experience, memorable acquaintance, or theory interpretation may fundamentally change the outcome of the research. An AI generator lacks authenticity because it is basically a program that operates by a certain algorithm, though a very complex one. AI-generated essays and other academic works undermine the system’s very purpose, where the actual outcome (your essay) is secondary compared to your thought process.
Why AI Essay Generator is a Bad Option for Essay Writing: The Plagiarism Risk with Ai Essay Generators as a Deterrent
Plagiarism is a well-known concern emerging from the accessibility of information on the Internet and the similarity of interpretations online. However, AI generators further worsened the situation since students use these tools to output unique personalized information. The problem lies in the very essence of AI tools, as they rely solely on pre-existing information and produce nothing but transformed and paraphrased facts. This process fundamentally differs from the real human experience of discovering information sources, carefully examining and analyzing them, and drawing unique conclusions based on insights.
Although an AI essay generator is quite professional in its paraphrasing abilities, chances of plagiarism increase with the topic’s uniqueness and narrow focus.
To illustrate, assume that 1000 articles about the impact of social media on mental health are available online. An AI essay generator will be more likely to provide you with unique results since it has plenty of information to base its output on. Imagine you are exploring the same topic but on a specific sample. How many articles are available now? In specific settings? In a specific area? With specific methodology? An AI model will have fewer and fewer options to vary its output, most likely giving you the same information as in the primary source.
Apart from the “traditional” plagiarism from the Web, there is a high chance that another student with the same or similar topic will submit an essay with the same content as you! You can even try to experiment with your friends by asking an AI essay generator the same question and comparing the answers. Of course, there is no guarantee that they will be the same or similar; however, this is a lottery where your academic integrity and success are at stake. Is it really worth it?
AI’s Limited Understanding of Context and Prompts Is the Primary Obstacle to its Superiority
While an AI essay generator is proficient in processing data and presenting information, it is inferior in understanding the specific context of the instructions. The general rule is that the more specific the AI prompt is, the more accurate the results you will get, but it is not always so. AI models perceive instructions like an algorithm, so they do not understand such concepts as “consider,” “think about,” or “emphasize.” While these parts of the instructions may indicate a slight emphasis on some aspect or sub-topic, an AI essay generator will take the direct instructions. Hence, you will sacrifice authenticity in writing, context understanding, and essay personalization, not to mention potentially low grades, since you did not follow the instructions precisely.
Missing the Human Touch: The Shortcomings of AI in Personalization in a World of People
Developing the topic of understanding the unique context and perception of the instructions, AI models jeopardize the essence of writing art–the human touch. Basically, it describes the unique signature of human-made products that are formed by individual experiences, emotions, and interpretations. If you are writing a reflection essay or a critical thinking paper, you are expected to provide your personal outlook on the topic. In this case, your essay will most likely be the most unique because the paper’s content is a product of your inner world. An AI essay generator cannot even get close to this level of essay personalization since, as mentioned earlier, it is not capable of thinking.
The importance of human experience in essay writing for students
But why is the human experience so important for essay writing? The education system aims to facilitate students’ various skills so they can perceive and synthesize information to generate new knowledge. Be that as it may, everyone is unique, so maybe it is your individual set of experiences that will create groundbreaking innovation. AI models eliminate the need to think critically and reflect on their experience–one of the most important human traits. Avoiding using an AI essay generator will provide you with invaluable learning opportunities to develop both personally and professionally. The human touch in essays is fundamental for generating new, unique knowledge based on your experience.
Outdated Information and Inappropriate Tone in AI Essays Destroy the Magic of Writing
An AI essay generator is capable of processing unimaginable volumes of data, which can be a drawback for data accuracy due to outdated information. Trained on big data, AI instantly digests the information to provide an output. However, the quality of the original data can be questionable, often leading to logical errors and inconsistencies even with trivial queries. You can find numerous examples of hilarious answers from AI where they claim that 2+2=5 and similar nonsense. In the following image, you can see how ChatGPT (almost) correctly answered the prompt but concluded that 1826 comes before 1823.
Outdated information and inaccurate facts are not the only problems of AI models. The tone of the text, which is paramount for academic writing, is also an issue for an AI essay generator. We have already explored that it is a unique human experience that forms context understanding and a high-quality essay. An AI essay generator perceives the instructions as they are, usually overlooking the tone, making it unnaturally neutral. However, if you ask an AI model to be either formal or informal, it will fall into the extremes. The text will look artificial and flat as if written by a robot… or artificial intelligence, to be exact.
Unpredictable quality: The inconsistency of AI essays is a threat to academic success
Drawing from the insights identified previously, it becomes evident that an AI essay generator is a questionable tool for the academic environment. The output is unpredictable since too many variables can play against the AI model user. You can receive plagiarized text with the wrong tone, inconsistent logic, inaccurate facts, and outdated information. Such outputs are not suitable even for information purposes, not to mention academic ones.
Detecting AI-generated texts: The telltale signs to reveal non-human content
Working with AI models can make you an expert in recognizing AI-generated texts. They are characterized by inconsistencies in facts and data, outdated information, unnatural perfection, and lack of the mythical human touch. Furthermore, if the essay’s tone is too formal or excessively casual, it may indicate the AI model’s authorship. Content authenticity and essay personalization also play a role since AI tries to imitate human experience superficially by adding broad reflection. You can find AI-generated text examples online and notice that the overall quality of such content is highly questionable. While it may be suitable for marketing or content creators, the learning and academic environment is certainly not a place for AI essays and quality inconsistency.
Why AI essay generator is a bad option for essay writing: Missed learning opportunities with AI essay generators use
Schools, colleges, and universities strive to teach students to use their imagination, critical thinking, and knowledge to drive development and innovation. However, relying too heavily on an AI essay generator completely negates learning opportunities. Creating an academic essay is a complex but rewarding process that gives students invaluable knowledge and skills for both personal and professional domains. The abilities you obtain during the research process are invaluable for your intellectual development and academic success.
