Picture this scenario - you eagerly open Canvas to see the grade for what you thought was a well written, thorough essay, only to find a zero. Along with the essay, is a message from your professor showing you a report that accuses you of using AI to do your work. 

For a lot of us, this nightmare scenario has become a reality. The academic institutions that we pay a lot of money to attend, are using unreliable technology to detect cheating. This practice has resulted in too many innocent students receiving a poor grade. This not only affects us academically, but has the potential to follow us for life.

AI detection software has often proved itself to be unreliable. Just run the preamble of the declaration of Independence through one and laugh at the results. Apparently, our forefathers traveled in time and had AI draft our country's most important documents. This software also flags several Bible verses as AI written. I firmly believe in miracles, but I do not believe Matthew, Mark, Luke and John time traveled to 2023 with the intent of using ChatGPT to write their respective gospels.

While it is important to maintain integrity in academic writing, the drawbacks outweigh the potential benefits when it comes to using this method to detect cheating. Until another way is found, the use of this technology should be banned.