Moderation Reason: "This post may have been generated by AI"
Posts that violate Packback’s Community Guidelines are flagged by our moderation algorithm and submitted for manual review by community moderators. One of the reasons a question or response may be moderated is if it was written fully (or in part) with the use of a generative AI model like ChatGPT.
Why was your specific post moderated for this reason?
Your post had the statistical markers of being written using a generative AI model (or Large Language Model). Large Language Models generate text by using statistical probabilities to determine the most likely next word to follow each word in a sentence. By using the same underlying technology that is used to generate text, we can reverse engineer the same statistical probabilities to determine if a post was likely written with the assistance of AI.
If your post was moderated for this reason, it matched the statistical signatures of content written using a Large Language Model.
Do you believe you should not have been moderated for this reason?
The models we use to detect AI-generated content are statistical probability models that look at how likely it is that each word in a post followed the prior word, and are highly accurate.
AI writes in a very "expected" manner because it is always writing the next most likely word. Human beings can occasionally write "like an AI" and be flagged for this reason, but it means that the text was very "expected" or generic and every word used within the content followed the "most likely" statistical patterns.
Here's how to edit and republish your post if you were moderated for this reason
- Bringing in real personal examples and anecdotes. Personal examples are unique to you, and LLMS generally do not include personal anecdotes, examples and perspectives in their writing;
- Try to integrate examples that make a connection to a different subject or unexpected example, which build novel and unexpected connections and ensure your writing is not generic;
- Expand your vocabulary to use more unexpected and novel words and terms, to help differentiate your writing from AI-written content;
- Cite relevant research or quote research in your answer/question. LLMs do not "search" the web and cannot provide accurate, relevant research and citations;
- Reduce the repetition in your text, which is common in AI-generated text, to make sure everything you are writing in your post is truly necessary and meaningful.
Why do we moderate posts for this reason, and why does it matter?
We know these new tools for generating content with AI are amazing and can actually be very helpful resources as you're learning. The reason we moderate posts that are suspected strongly of being written using AI is two-fold:
- If you are using AI to generate content without meaningfully editing and expanding upon it to make it your own (and being transparent about your use of these tools), it is a form of academic dishonesty and plagiarism;
- And if you're using AI to generate your assignment work, you're missing out on the purpose of the Packback assignment, which is to think about the questions you want to ask, to improve and get feedback on your writing process, and to interact with your classmates meaningfully. It's important your classmates know that they are reading and responding to posts from real people, not robots.
A better way to use ChatGPT or other large language models is to assist you with your work, like using it to help brainstorm ideas for questions, rather than try to replace yourself and pass off AI-written content as your own.
How to edit and republish your post to earn credit
Do you need help with the steps of how to edit and republish your post? Check out this article: How do I Edit & Republish my Post?
What happens after I edit and republish a post
After you edit a post to apply the feedback from the moderation email and republish, your post will be published with its original posting date. As long as you republish before our instructor pulls grades for that deadline period, you will receive full credit for your post. Republished posts are still checked by our AI and moderators, so please be sure that your post meets the Community Guidelines when republishing so it is not flagged or moderated again.