How to Detect AI-Generated Text: A Complete Guide
Why Detecting AI-Generated Text Matters
With AI writing tools becoming ubiquitous, the ability to identify synthetic content is increasingly valuable. Whether you're an educator grading papers, an editor reviewing submissions, or a recruiter screening cover letters, knowing whether text was AI-generated can be crucial.
Methods Used by Scanly
1. Perplexity Analysis
Perplexity measures how "surprised" a language model is by each word in the text. AI-generated text tends to have lower perplexity because the model chooses more predictable word sequences.
Human writing often contains unexpected word choices, tangents, and informal language that increase perplexity.
2. Burstiness Measurement
Burstiness refers to the variance in sentence length. Human writers naturally vary their sentence structure — some short punchy sentences, others long and complex.
AI text typically maintains more uniform sentence lengths, showing lower burstiness.
3. Vocabulary Variance
Human writers draw from a larger vocabulary and use words differently across paragraphs. AI text often reuses the same terms and phrases.
4. Pattern Recognition
AI models learn specific writing patterns from their training data. Common AI phrases include:
- "It is important to note that..."
- "In conclusion, it should be noted..."
- "The significance of this cannot be overstated..."
How to Use Scanly
Simply paste any text into the detector and click "Analyze." You'll receive:
- AI vs Human verdict with confidence percentage
- Detailed metrics for each analysis dimension
- Breakdown explaining what factors influenced the result
Limitations
No detection method is 100% accurate. Sophisticated human-written text can sometimes score as AI, and well-edited AI text can pass detection. Use detection as one input among many when evaluating content authenticity.