I'm a non-native English speaker and I keep getting flagged by AI writing detector tools

[Doliner]

This is becoming a huge problem for international students. I'm from China, and English is my second language. I work really hard on my papers—I go to the writing center, I have tutors, I spend hours editing. But my writing is still more straightforward and 'correct' than a native speaker's because I'm following grammar rules carefully. Multiple times now, my papers have been flagged by AI writing detector tools as 'potentially AI-generated.' One professor believed me when I showed my drafts. Another gave me a zero and I had to go through a whole academic integrity hearing to clear my name. Research shows detectors are biased against non-native writers . It's not fair that we're being punished for writing clearly. Has anyone else dealt with this? How do you protect yourself? I'm thinking of recording myself writing just to have proof.

 

[Liam]

The fact that you're considering recording yourself writing just to PROVE you're human is dystopian and awful and I'm so sorry.

Here's what one of my professors (who's actually anti-AI-detector) said in class last week:

"These tools are snake oil. They have a 2% false positive rate which sounds small until you realize that means millions of innocent students get flagged every year. And the false positives are disproportionately English language learners and neurodivergent writers. It's academic profiling."

What you can do:

• Add a personal reflection somewhere in the paper if the topic allows. AI doesn't have memories.
• Vary your sentence structure intentionally. Short punchy sentences. Then longer flowing ones. Mix it up.
• If you get flagged, DON'T panic-email. Take screenshots of your draft history first. Document everything.