Students Against Turnitin Training AI on Their Work

Students don't choose Turnitin. Their university does, and then every essay they write goes through it.

This summer, Turnitin changed its licence terms so that student work could be used to train artificial intelligence (AI) — the same kind of technology it sells universities tools to detect. Students found out, and students' unions across the UK started pushing back. Turnitin has now delayed the change until September 2027 to discuss it with its customers, and says it may still use anonymised student submissions to improve its own detection tools. The University of Southampton isn't waiting: it won't renew its contract past 2026-27.

A delay isn't a promise. This movement is where those campaigns come together. The petitions here ask for two things — that Turnitin rules out training AI on student work permanently, and that universities stop using Turnitin until it does.

Find the petition for your university and sign it. If yours isn't here yet, start one.