Professor says there's a new way that gives away writing was done with AI

There's no doubt that artificial intelligence can be handy on occasions but it's probably a teacher's biggest nightmare right now.

After spending the whole day with students whose attention spans have almost been fried to the point of non-existence by social media and screens, you'd be praying that your students will at least attempt the homework themselves before turning to an AI helper.

But the reality is that many students simply don't see the appeal of learning things themselves when the information is so readily available online, with teachers left angry and frustrated when kids aren't putting in the effort.

Although universities have introduced their own technology to help detect when students have used AI, there are clearly ways around this, as one student went viral for showing off how he'd earned his degree thanks to ChatGPT.

But while the em dash punctuation mark has long been the sign that something might have been written by AI, a professor has now suggested that the use of a single word might be a better litmus test.

Matt Prince, an adjunct professor at Chapman University in Southern California, revealed in a TikTok that he thinks 'moreover' is the key sign that an essay has been written by a computer.

He added: "Just a friendly reminder to all you students out there, who are submitting your final papers and submissions for the semester, if you are using AI, make sure you’re reading through the output before you just turn it in.”

However, it seems as if not everyone is in agreement about the professor's choice of word, with several arguing that students shouldn't be punished for having an impressive vocabulary.

One wrote: “I’m 22, but I would have totally 100% used the word moreover in an essay at 18, 19, 20, you name it. I’ve always been a huge grammar fanatic and love using a wide variety of vocabulary … I would have totally gotten in trouble for doing nothing except for writing it myself lol."

Another added: “So happy to know my extensive vocabulary is no longer an asset. This organic machine apparently comes across as artificial intelligence instead of human intelligence."

Considering studies have shown that regular use of AI chatbots and systems actually makes you dumber, you'd think that more people would be willing to earn their degrees and leave universities with skills that will help you succeed in life, especially with the money that you have to spend to study there.

But given that many of the jobs available after university are perhaps likely to be taken over by AI anyway, there is an argument that some students may be lacking the motivation to study.

Hopefully if you are at university you're still learning as much as you can and if you are a fan of the word moreover, you can probably just go ahead and use it anyway, so long as you can prove that you've done all of your work yourself.