By: Joshua Finley

If you want to tell whether or not something was written by an AI, chances are you’ll want to use an AI detector.

An AI detector can check text content to tell whether or not any signs of AI are present. The problem is that many AI content detectors cost money to use. 

However, we found AI detectors that are free to use! Keep in mind, all of these AI detectors are to be used for legitimate business purposes.

Photo Courtesy: Undetectable AI

Use an AI Detector Like Undetectable AI

The first choice on our list is Undetectable.ai. Undetectable AI offers an AI content detector to both signed in and visiting users.

To use Undetectable AI, just copy and paste any piece of text into the app, and click the “check for AI button.”

What sets Undetectable AI apart from the other AI detectors on this list, is that it actually utilizes seven different detection models so that you get the accurate results possible. 

Perform Manual Analysis

Performing manual analysis of text content can help you spot AI content if you know what to look for. For instance AI-generated text often includes repetitive outputs in its phrases. AI-text also lacks the variation present in human writing.

When analyzing a text to determine if it was written by AI, consider the grammar and punctuation. Is it perfect? AI-generated text, like that produced by ChatGPT, is designed to be grammatically perfect. While perfect grammar isn’t always a red flag, any text that seems too perfect should be investigated further.

Ask an AI Language Model like ChatGPT

Don’t simply ask ChatGPT if a piece of text is AI generated. Instead, if you’re analyzing an article or essay about the topic of justice for example, ask ChatGPT to generate an article or essay on justice and compare it with the text you’re analyzing. 

If there are similarities between a text you suspect was AI generated, and the output that AI does generate, it may warrant further investigation.

How AI Detectors Work

AI detectors are designed to identify text generated by artificial intelligence. They typically use language models similar to those used in AI writing tools, essentially asking, “Is this the sort of text I would have produced?”

These detectors primarily focus on two key factors:

Perplexity: This measures how unpredictable or confusing a text is to the average reader. AI-generated text usually has low perplexity, meaning it’s more predictable and flows smoothly. 

Human writing, on the other hand, tends to have higher perplexity due to more creative language choices and occasional errors.

Burstiness: This refers to the variation in sentence structure and length. AI-generated text often has low burstiness, with sentences of similar length and structure. 

Human writing typically shows more variation, resulting in higher burstiness.

AI detectors analyze these factors in a given text. Lower perplexity and burstiness are considered indicators of AI-generated content. This is because AI language models are designed to produce coherent, grammatically correct text by predicting the likely next word in a sequence. 

This approach often results in more uniform and predictable writing compared to the natural variations found in human-authored text.

While AI detection methods can be effective, they’re not foolproof. As AI technology evolves, the line between AI-generated and human-written text may become increasingly blurred.

Published by: Khy Talara