Turnitin and the Future of Plagiarism Detection

The plagiarism checker Turnitin has announced plans to use student assignments to develop AI tools. This decision has led to strong opposition from British universities, which find the use of these new terms unacceptable. The University of Cambridge has refused to sign the renewed contract, while the University of Southampton has chosen to terminate its collaboration with Turnitin. This protest is not surprising given the scale of Turnitin's database, which currently includes more than 1.8 billion pieces of work, and the dissatisfaction regarding how the company handles intellectual property rights.

In the Netherlands, however, universities remain loyal to Turnitin, utilizing Ephorus, a similar plagiarism checker that falls under Turnitin. Institutions such as Leiden University, the University of Amsterdam, and TU Delft still use this checking function, despite concerns about storing student work in the database. It is important to note that this work is stored without consent, raising questions about privacy and student rights within the academic environment.

Turnitin checks for plagiarism by segmenting submitted works and comparing them with existing texts on the internet and previous submissions. When students submit their work through platforms like Brightspace or Canvas, these files are automatically forwarded to Turnitin. This system ensures that teachers gain insight into the originality of submitted texts, but the retention of these submissions for future comparisons has led to criticism. Critics argue that this practice compromises student privacy and unjustly exposes them to potential data misuse.

While British universities have pressured their collaboration with Turnitin, this trend does not seem to be an issue in the Netherlands for the time being. Existing legal frameworks, such as the European privacy law (GDPR), provide Dutch students with some protection. However, there is a possibility that if the new terms come into force in 2027, universities will need to reconsider their collaboration with Turnitin and how they handle student data.

Read the full article from AI Insider.