AI Detection and assessment – an update for 2025

Michael Webb reviews the current evidence on how well AI detection software actually works, reporting that unmodified AI text is usually caught but that light paraphrasing defeats most tools, and that human markers are worse at spotting it than the software is. He sets out what a marker should do instead, including treating any detection score as one piece of circumstantial evidence rather than proof. After reading it you will know what you can and cannot defensibly claim about a suspicious submission.

Task

Grading & feedback

Time

16 min

Level

beginner

Cost

Free — Nothing to pay. A free account at most.

Tools

None in particular

Published

2025-06

Voice

Michael Webb — The nearest thing to a CIO writing in public: he names specific vendor configurations to turn on or off, and says why.