Delivering quality content poses a challenge for many brands. It's a continuous process that requires coordination among multiple writers and team members. Moreover, there is fierce competition in search results, making it difficult to rank well and attract targeted traffic.

To overcome this challenge, freelancers may opt to generate articles using Gen AI-powered tools instead of crafting them manually, which may complicate the situation. Thus, the question arises as to whether search engines can detect information assisted by AI. If they can detect AI-written content, will it affect the overall ranking? 

To answer this question, search engine algorithms focus on quality rather than whether the content is written by AI or not. For instance, Google’s search engine algorithm follows EEAT guidelines (Expertise, Experienced, Trustworthy, and Authoritative). If the article meets these criteria, the content is ranked well, and if it doesn’t, like the content is full of fluff, then the content won’t be ranked well. 

Even though, Gen AI tools are improving, the content generated from AI is mostly filled with fluff. That’s why there is a high chance that AI-written content might get rejected. This article will explore AI content detection and outline the resources accessible to businesses for determining whether an article has been AI-generated. Before we get started, let's talk about what AI content detectors are and why AI content detection is so important nowadays.

What is AI Content Detection and How Does it Work?

AI content detection involves determining whether a text is generated by AI or by a human. It is achieved by using a combination of machine learning and natural language processing techniques. 

AI detection tools rely on language models, which are also found in AI writing tools. These models help detect AI-generated content. Specifically, the models search for two key features in a text: burstiness and perplexity.

1. Perplexity

Perplexity is a measurement of a text's degree of unpredictability, indicating how likely it is to make no sense or read strangely to the average reader.

• AI language models are designed to generate predictable texts with low levels of perplexity. These texts are also more likely to make sense and be read easily.
• Human writing typically contains higher perplexity due to its creative language choices and a higher rate of typos.

Language models function by predicting and substituting the word that would naturally follow in a sentence. For example, in the statement "I couldn't get to work last…” there are more and less likely continuations.

• For human-generated content, there will be high perplexity if the sentence is grammatically incorrect or illogical. For example, “I couldn’t get to work last. Pleased to meet you.”
• For AI-generated content, the perplexity will be low if there is most likely a continuation. For instance, “I couldn't get to work last night.”

If the text is low perplexity, then it is taken as evidence that the given text is AI-generated.

Burstiness

Burstiness measures the variation in length and sentence structure; it's similar to perplexity but focuses on sentences rather than words.

• Texts with minimal variation in sentence length and structure are considered low burstiness.
• A text with more variation has a higher burstiness. 

AI text is typically less "bursty" than human text. Language models typically produce sentences with conventional structures and an average length of 10–20 words since they predict the word that is most likely to appear next. This indicates that writing by AI can appear monotonous at times.

A text with low burstiness is probably AI-generated.

The Importance of AI Content Detection

AI content detection is crucial for ensuring the quality and accuracy of content produced by an AI algorithm. Businesses can mitigate legal risks by identifying AI-generated content and refraining from using it without proper authorization. Additionally, it helps ensure that the information aligns with specific criteria for relevance and accuracy. Let’s understand the importance of AI-content detection: 

1. Eliminating Copywriting Allegations

Copyright issues may arise if the source material is generated by an AI algorithm without approval from the original author or owner for advertising purposes. Businesses that identify such content before using it may be shielded from potential copyright infringement lawsuits in the future.

2. Creating Relevant Content

Finding AI-generated content is essential because it ensures that any data used in marketing campaigns is accurate and relevant to the target market. AI content detection verifies the accuracy and relevance of any content used for marketing purposes. 

3. SEO Rankings

AI content detection is important for evaluating and ranking material according to several standards, including quality. The content's precision, uniqueness, and utility can be detected for better SEO rankings. 

4. Risk of Misinformation and Outdated Content

AI text generators may also spread misinformation or false information that may appear convincing due to their writing style. AI content detection has a significant advantage: It aids in the fight against misinformation in the media and ensures that the content you publish is authentic and free from outdated information.

5. Maintaining the Authenticity of Content 

AI content detection is essential for fact-checking and quality control. With this understanding, we can delve into how Google evaluates AI-generated content. This assessment aids in implementing a human touch and empathy in your written content.

Different Methods to Detect AI-Generated Content

AI-generated content can occasionally be identified without the need for an AI detection tool. As AI-generated content becomes increasingly accessible to all writers, content marketers must remain vigilant. Below are some of the most effective methods for assessing and identifying AI-generated content.

1. Examine the Text for Repetitive or Unusual Patterns

Artificial intelligence isn't perfect. Similar phrases may appear in an AI-generated article, and the AI may need more training to distinguish between the two concepts. 

Consider the following example of a text generated by ChatGPT regarding content marketing:

Source

2. Perform a Quick AI Search and Compare

Utilize readily available tools to perform a quick AI generation test. Select your preferred AI content generator and create a prompt specific to your article. Be as specific as possible regarding the topic, length, and structure. See what happens when you click "generate." If the content piece you have and the text generated by the AI tool look almost identical, there is a high chance that the content piece was copied from the Gen AI tool. 

3. Examine for a Lack of Originality

Detecting plagiarism is straightforward with widely used tools such as Grammarly and Writer.com, which feature built-in plagiarism checkers. These tools compare the content to other online sources to ensure that it has not been copied or stolen from previously published material.

4. Examine Outdated Errors

Ensure the accuracy of your facts. Artificial intelligence may occasionally include information from outdated or irrelevant sources in the content. Quickly examine the article and conduct independent, basic research to ensure coherence.

5. Execute a Contextual Evaluation

Human beings have a more advanced capacity to identify the intricate details of a concept. If you notice that some important information is missing from the article, it may be because artificial intelligence has trouble making connections that a human could. This observation might suggest that the content was generated by artificial intelligence.

Top AI Content Detection Tools 2024

Here is the list of the top AI content detection tools to help streamline your process:

1. Winston AI

Winston AI is a reasonably priced AI detection tool that can detect AI-generated content and plagiarism in any type of writing. Designed for freelancers, publishers, educators, and content creators, the tool determines whether any given piece of content was produced by a human or a robot.

Winston AI allows you to upload documents in DOCX, PDF, JPEG, and PNG formats, unlike other AI detectors. You can check for originality by scanning content from your photos and PDFs using OCR technology.

This AI detector is compatible with any Google Doc with edit access. Additionally, it provides a Chrome extension that displays the likelihood that an article was created using artificial intelligence.

2. Originality.ai

Originality.ai is an artificial intelligence detection tool integrated into a unique system tailored specifically for content marketers and website publishers. It identifies content written by GPT-3, GPT3.5 (DaVinci-003), and ChatGPT as AI-generated. They offer a free trial for accurately identifying AI content.

Differentiating itself from other AI content detectors, Originality.ai offers an integrated plagiarism checker at a reasonable cost. Originality.ai has straightforward pricing: it costs around $0.01 for every 100 words, regardless of whether you're looking for plagiarism or AI content detection.

3. Copyleaks

Copyleaks' website features a simple AI content detector. This tool can identify a wide variety of AI-driven content, including that produced by ChatGPT, GPT3, humans, a combination of AI and humans, and other tools. You can also install a Chrome Extension that detects such content on the pages you are browsing. However, Copyleaks isn't a full-fledged grammar studio like some other platforms, even though it does provide other services like plagiarism detection. 

4. Content at Scale

Content at Scale's AI detector is a unique addition to its AI writing platform. Once the content is submitted, this AI detection tool produces an outcome "within seconds." A combination of "predictability, probability, and pattern" scores is displayed on the platform as the "human content score." You can detect words up to 2500 characters for free.

5. Undetectable AI

Undetectable AI is a tool that employs powerful AI content detectors to identify any content as being created by AI, offering a humanization option as well. Designed to humanize existing content, Undetectable AI provides a Detection Likelihood using AI detectors such as OpenAI, Copyleaks, Sapling, Content at Scale, and others. While Undetectable AI offers limited free AI detection (up to 10 detections per day), humanizing content and unlimited AI detection require a monthly subscription fee.

6. Writer.com

Writer.com, a content writing tool, offers a plethora of short-form templates for creating excellent content across various platforms, such as social media, sales pages, advertisements, websites, and more.

Additionally, Writer.com offers an AI detection feature with a 350-word limit. This feature can automatically identify AI-generated content and provide a human content score. A score of 100% signifies that the content is completely human-generated.

7. Sapling

Known for its AI modeling copilot, Sapling is a platform that also features an AI content detection tool. After analyzing merely 50 words, the Sapling AI content detector can determine whether an article was written by GPT-3 or ChatGPT. Compared to other content detection tools, this one requires a lower word count.

The best feature of this AI detection tool is its ability to provide an overall percentage of fake content and highlight AI-generated content in red, which is also present in some other AI tools, including content scale AI. Developed by former Stanford, Berkeley, and Google researchers, it offers robust functionality and accuracy.

8. GPT Zero

Educators frequently utilize GPT Zero, but it can also prove advantageous for businesses. The tool has been effectively used by over a million users to determine whether their content was created using AI. GPT Zero boasts an extremely user-friendly interface. Overall, GPT Zero provides a quick and easy way to check your content, although other platforms offer more advanced features.

9. Kazan SEO

Kazan SEO is a free, simple, all-in-one SEO tool. It features an AI GPT3 detector that can examine unlimited words for AI-generated content. It also has a content optimizer, a text extractor, and a clustering-based keyword research tool.

Kazan SEO's capacity to perform bulk analyses distinguishes it from other AI content detection tools. To use it, you enter the URLs into a text field and select the opinion "Detect URLs for AI Content."

Neo’s Opinion: Comparison of Tools

Note: We have rated the AI-content detectors on the basis of different factors, like accurate detection, percentage of false positives, ease of use, word or character limits, and other factors. 

Conclusion 

Savvy marketers who stay one step ahead of the competition evaluate and analyze their content using an AI content detection tool. Similar to ongoing optimization, marketers could incorporate AI content detection into their regular content creation process.

This is certainly essential for businesses with websites that include blogs. Thus, businesses must opt into this AI detection process. Creating excellent content in large volumes is not enough. To provide such content to new customers, businesses also need a good and dependable host to rank highly on SERPs and draw in quality traffic.

However, it is essential to mention that no AI detection tool is 100% accurate. There are always false positives that make them flag human-researched content as AI-written. So, choose your AI detection tool carefully and utilize different tactics to check if the content was written with the help of the Gen AI tool. 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What makes a good AI content detector?

Here are the following points that make the best AI detection tool:

• Usability: How simple is it to use this tool? Are there any limitations that might be too difficult?
• Accuracy: To what extent does the tool identify content created by AI? The best AI content detectors need to provide easily reliable results with few false positives and negatives
• Interpretability: Interpretability and accuracy are closely related. For instance, is it possible for the app to identify AI content from several LLMs, distinguish between AI, human, and mixed (AI + human) content, or generate AI highlighting and reporting at the sentence level?
• Additional features: Search for any extra features, such as an API, a browser extension, a plagiarism detector, or integrations with other programs like Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Canvas, Blackboard, or other LMS platforms and classroom applications.

2. Are there any drawbacks or limitations of using AI detection tools?

Tools for AI content detection have certain drawbacks and limitations. As artificial intelligence-generated content advances and becomes increasingly similar to human-generated text, its accuracy is not always ideal. 

Furthermore, AI-generated content that is intended to be undetectable may be difficult for detectors to recognize. The extent of these limitations will depend on future advancements in AI-generated and detection technologies.

3. What does AI content detection hold for the future?

As we can see, further advancements in artificial intelligence also lead to a higher degree of complexity in machine-generated content, making it particularly challenging to detect. Due to this, everyone involved in its development process needs to focus on producing even more precise and advanced tools that can keep up. 

The only effective means of fighting off these threats will be to maintain the credibility of online information by accurately detecting false information produced by AI. Furthermore, it is critical that we give careful thought to the ethical concerns raised by invasions of privacy, breaches of consent, and the possibility of abusing this potent technology.