No Detection Tool Can Reliably Identify AI-Written Essays, OpenAI Education Head Says
Raghav Gupta, head of Education for India and Asia Pacific at OpenAI, said there is no tool that can reliably distinguish between AI-generated and human-written text. The statement comes as institutions worldwide grapple with student use of ChatGPT for essays and research papers.
India has the largest student user base on ChatGPT globally. About 10 crore people use the tool weekly in India, with roughly one-third being students. Globally, 90 crore people use ChatGPT each week.
The Detection Problem
Gupta said the real question is not whether educators can catch AI-written work, but whether students understand how using AI affects their career development. He rejected the idea of banning AI tools as a solution.
"If this technology can be used to plagiarize and cheat, then it is the system and testing mechanisms that needs to adapt," he said.
How Schools Can Respond
Gupta outlined two approaches for educational institutions:
- Hybrid assessments that combine pen-and-paper tests with problems requiring students to apply knowledge using AI tools
- Study mode features in ChatGPT that guide students toward answers rather than providing them directly, similar to how a teacher would ask questions
OpenAI has also developed specialized models for research. GPT Rosalind, for example, helps bioscience researchers work more efficiently.
Teacher-Led Adaptation
Teachers can feed ChatGPT with course materials to create digital extensions of themselves, allowing students to study with teacher guidance without requiring the instructor's constant presence. Supervisors will need to play an active role in monitoring student work, Gupta said.
This approach reflects feedback from institutions including IITs and IIMs that OpenAI partners with on AI for Education initiatives.
The Broader Shift
As AI chatbots like Claude and Google Gemini can generate full research reports and literature reviews with proper prompts, academic institutions face pressure to rethink assessment methods rather than attempt to block the technology.
The debate continues among policymakers, teachers, and examination boards about how to respond to AI-assisted academic work without simply prohibiting its use.
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