Turnitin report shows ‘traditional’ plagiarism rates remain consistent even in the age of AI
Turnitin today released its first quarterly Learning Integrity Insights report. In this report, the company shares what it has learned as educators, students, and institutions engage in the responsible use of AI. Based on global qualitative and quantitative data, Turnitin recognizes that responsible use exists across a variety of applications and hears that many educational institutions are moving from discovery to integration and want customizable AI for use in classrooms and lecture halls.
“There is no one-size-fits-all approach to what the responsible use of AI in education looks like.” Annie Chechitelli, Turnitin’s chief product officer, said: “Working with educational institutions on solutions that support the goal of responsible AI use is yielding insights into what works and what doesn’t. What we’re hearing from educators is that those who are incorporating AI into education want more customization and insight into how students can use AI. We’re also hearing from both educators and students that AI in feedback and grading. I have also heard that the sense of security that exists depends on the situation.
Turnitin’s Learning Integrity Insights report explores several themes related to AI in education, including:
- From resistance to integration and personalization: The “responsible” use of AI actually extends to both students and educators.
- More than 60% of recent customer feedback prioritizes the need for transparency in AI use.
- Most educators aren’t just asking whether AI was used. they are asking how and why AI was used.
- As educators and institutions move from discovering AI to integrating it (with guardrails), they are looking for customization to tailor the use of approved AI to a class or assignment.
- feedback gap: Teachers say they don’t have time to give students the amount of feedback they deserve. And students often don’t have the time or opportunity to ask for it in the writing process. AI could help here, but there is considerable hesitancy to introduce it to feedback.
- Policy gap: Our conversations with customers have shown us that having clear and consistent policies around the use of AI can benefit both educators and students. However, fewer than half of institutions report having an AI policy.
While educators and students are finding footing in the role of AI in learning processes, feedback, and grading, “traditional” plagiarism remains strong, with a consistent average of 6-7% of student papers showing similarity scores > 80% from other sources.
As institutions, educators, and students interact with AI in the classroom, Turnitin continues to work with educators to provide solutions that encourage authentic student learning while freeing up administrative time so educators can spend more time teaching.
Click here for the full Learning Integrity Insights report.
1 From April 2023 to date, 6.16% of submitted papers contain more than 80% similarity, of which 91% mainly match other students’ papers, 7.8% match internet sources, and about 1% match publications. Prior to the release of the generative AI tool over a similar three-year period (November 30, 2019 to November 30, 2022), a similar consistent proportion of student papers showed very high overlap with existing sources. Approximately 6.86% of the submissions contained 80% or more similarity, of which 88.25% primarily matched with other students’ papers, 10.75% with Internet sources, and approximately 1% with publications. 4Janey Robert and Mark McCormack. 2025 EDUCAUSE AI Landscape Survey: Toward the Digital AI Divide. Research report. Boulder, Colorado: EDUCAUSE, February 2025.
