AI Plagiarism

AI
I’ve been plagiarized by an AI.
Author

Richard Sprague

Published

December 1, 2022

Web3 Thief

update 2023-03-12 7:37 AM

The AI Content Detector at Copyleaks says it’s human text.

But note: when I take my original text and ask Bing AI to rewrite it (“to be more authoritative”, I said”), the detector also says it’s “human-generated”. In other words, the Bing AI LLM appears to rewrite human-authored text in a way that fools the detector.

Incidentally, an unrelated post of mine received a comment that the Content Detector says is AI-written and I have flagged it.


Update 2023-01-05: I ran the text through Edward Tian’s GPTZero plagiarism detector.

When I submitted just the two paragraphs below, it concluded that the first (real) one was written by a human (me!). The second was inconclusive, so it asked me to try again with more text. When I submitted a longer version, the plagiarism detector said it’s “likely human”:

See full results below


Somebody at hashtag3.medium took that #DeSci piece I wrote for NEO.LIFE, rewrote it slightly, and posted it to his LinkedIn account of 10,000 followers.

It got more than 400 reactions.

Every paragraph is just a rewrite. I wrote this:

In a DeSci world, the indelible nature of the blockchain closes off many sources of outright fraud. Smart contracts, by eliminating humans from the loop, can’t be bribed or intimidated, for example.

He writes this:

The indelible nature of the blockchain eliminates several sources of blatant #fraud in a #DeSci society. Smart contracts, by removing humans from the loop, cannot be bribed or intimidated.

The whole piece is like this!


Although at first I was shocked and angry, I was also flattered that somebody thought my piece was worth plagiarising in the first place. I mean, it’s one thing if he just ripped it off wholesale – which is evil of course but also easy to detect. But in this case, he went to the trouble to rewrite my piece, leaving the gist in place but with the words reorganized enough to avoid a simple search-for-these-exact-words plagarism detector. Going to that much trouble would indicate that somebody cared enough about my ideas that he took the considerable time required to rewrite it in his own words. That’s kinda flattering, right?


But now with the advent of GPT and the large language models being applied to automated text generation, I realize my plagiarist didn’t have to take any time at all. These tools let him point to a text article and ask for a slightly different version; the computer generates one at light speed.

In fact, why stop there? Send a web crawler through popular-ish sites (avoid the Big Media places that are likely to have lawyers on staff), scooping up content as you go. Rewrite it, and repost.

And those LinkedIn likes? Why can’t those be GPT-generated as well? Make a few hundred fake profiles, have them interlinked and connected with one another so it looks like they’re legit. Then have each profile like and comment on each other’s posts.

I have seen the future. Easy for the scammers. But not for the rest of us.


Plagarism Detector

Run the following text through the plagiarism detector at gptzero:

Instead of requiring graduate degrees or other qualifications to join and participate in a standard lab established at a university or corporation with a hierarchical structure managed by a principal investigator (PI) or director and a formal recruiting procedure, anybody may join and participate in a DeSci lab.

The parameters of a DeSci DAO (distributed autonomous organization) will establish responsibilities and incentives that will be paid in tokens, all of which will be recorded on a blockchain. Complete the assignment to obtain the tokens. Of course, some of the activities will require specialized expertise, training, or equipment, just as they would in a real lab, but no one can stop you from doing them. When a series of tasks produce intellectual property, ownership is transferred to the whole DAO, with each member’s part proportionate to the number of tokens held. If the IP is sold or licensed, the proceeds go directly to the DAO and its token holders.

Although they resemble ownership shares in a typical firm, token regulations are more flexible and are wholly determined by the token holders themselves, implemented by smart contracts on an irreversible blockchain. Decisions in a normal corporation are often made by a small number of management members who, being human, might occasionally unjustly dish out favors. DAO decisions are decided through smart contracts that, once stated, cannot be manipulated.

At least, that’s the theory. Of course, an NFT-based DeSci credit system is dependent on providing proper credit to its forefathers — but that is also true in today’s academic publication.

generates this (Perplexity=219):

Your GPTZero score corresponds to the likelihood of the text being AI generated: 59.95210209370932

Your text is likely human generated!

Here I try a longer version of my original (unplagiarized) text:

DeSci DAOs work the same way. Instead of funding a traditional lab based at a university or company with a hierarchical structure led by a principal investigator (PI) or director and a formal hiring process requiring advanced degrees or other credentials, anyone can join and participate in a DeSci lab. The terms of a DeSci DAO (distributed autonomous organization) will specify tasks and rewards—paid in tokens—all stamped on a blockchain. Complete the task, get the tokens. Of course, some of the tasks will require specialized knowledge, training, or equipment just like in a real lab, but nobody can stop you from trying. When a series of tasks results in some intellectual property, ownership goes to the entire DAO, with each member’s share proportional to the number of tokens they hold. If that IP is sold or licensed, the revenue comes right back to the DAO and its token holders.

Although they look roughly like ownership shares in a traditional business, rules for tokens are more flexible and are decided entirely by the token holders themselves, enforced through smart contracts on an immutable blockchain. Decisions in a typical business are usually made by a small group of management insiders who, being human, can sometimes hand out favors unfairly. DAO decisions are made by pre-determined smart contracts which, once specified, can’t be rigged.

That’s the theory at least. Of course an NFT-based DeSci credit system depends on giving appropriate credit to its predecessors—but that’s true of today’s academic publishing as well. Serious scientists want to credit their forebears, if only to demonstrate that their current work is built on a solid foundation.

Result (Perplexity = 368):

Your GPTZero score corresponds to the likelihood of the text being AI generated: 92.67014843117718

Your text is likely human generated!