Many educators express concerns about students relying on AI tools for their writing assignments. Yet, AI detection tools aren’t infallible, and there have been numerous cases where genuine submissions were incorrectly flagged as AI-generated. This is where an innovative AI application steps in to assist students in demonstrating the originality of their work.
What Is Grammarly Authorship?
Grammarly originally launched as a grammar and spell-checking tool, but it has evolved to include AI functionalities aimed at enhancing writing quality. It serves as a viable alternative to Microsoft Editor and offers free access for those who don’t require premium features like plagiarism detection and generative AI. Recently, Grammarly has been piloting a new feature known as Grammarly Authorship. This functionality allows the application to monitor writing activities in specific Google Docs or Word files, essentially creating a traceable record of the text’s origins.
This feature can distinguish between text that was written directly and text that was copied from online sources or other unknown origins. Additionally, it can identify portions of text that have been rewritten using Grammarly’s generative AI tools. This capability aims to confirm that the individual submitting the paper is indeed the one who wrote it.
How to Use Grammarly to Prove Your Own Originality
To utilize this tracking feature, start by creating a Grammarly account. The good news is that this service is free, so there’s no financial hurdle to proving your authorship. Once you’ve set up your account, you’ll need to install Grammarly for Chrome or Grammarly for Microsoft Edge if you’re using Google Docs. If you prefer to write in Microsoft Word, download Grammarly for Desktop.
After installation, a prompt will appear inviting you to enable Authorship. By accepting or dismissing this pop-up, you’ll notice a small green thumbprint icon in the lower-left corner of your screen. Clicking this icon will open the Authorship interface, where you can select “Track writing activity,” prompting the tool to start monitoring your current document.
After you finish your writing session, click the green thumbprint icon again and choose “See report.” This will launch a new browser window displaying the analytics for that document, compiled during your current activity.
It’s Not Perfect, But It’s a Start
The Authorship feature represents a significant step forward in helping students validate that they haven’t cheated on their writing assignments. However, it does come with certain limitations. For instance, it only tracks activity in the current session, meaning that if you close the document and return later, the Authorship report will indicate that the existing text has an "Origin unknown" status.
Moreover, if you switch to another device or window and retype text generated by an AI app, Authorship will label it as “100% typed by a human,” even though it originated from AI.
While it’s true that anyone intent on bypassing these safeguards could still find a way, Grammarly Authorship provides a more effective solution than existing AI checkers, which have often proven unreliable. There are also concerns that these systems may be unfairly biased against non-native English speakers and writers.
In summary, Authorship aims to bolster educators’ confidence in the originality of student work. Ultimately, however, if a teacher questions the authenticity of a submission, the best way to confirm its originality may still be through a personal presentation by the student.
