TurnItIn is the platform used to assess the likelihood of work being AI generated. KCL automatically applies a score to all submitted work from students which markers are supposed to trust as accurate.
TurnItIn has recently changed its T&Cs to allow for the use of all submitted work as training data. Whilst they’ve subsequently postponed this decision, with the intent of reviewing it for implementation at a later date, at least one other university has already cancelled their contract on the assumption that this data harvesting will be implemented.
While TurnItIn is already known to be frequently unreliable, to the point where it’s assessment of AI content within submissions is best off ignored, its potential shift to overt plagiarism still manages to make it an even more problematic system. Especially given the cautionary note on KCL’s own guidance for AI use in marking:
With implementation delayed there’s a clear space for KCL to either cancel their contract or, at the very least, notify students that their work will be used as training data. Better by far would be to adhere to their own guidance and seek student consent for the use of any platform which takes their work for any purpose that isn’t directly relevant to their educational experience and outcomes.
Here’s hoping they follow Southampton in taking clear and coherent action.
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