GPTZero catches AI cheating in the act

The Future. AI text detection tool GPTZero wants to be the Turnitin of the new generative AI era. And so far, it’s pulling it off. With CEO Edward Tian inspired to create the tool to fight the rise of disinformation, the company may have the makings of building software that becomes the go-to plugin for not just academic but all online text.

Code-handed
GPTZero, which Tian built during his senior year at Princeton, wants to make sure no AI-generated writing goes undetected… by checking for the “humanness” of it.

• The tool does so by scanning for a paragraph’s “burstiness” (variability of word choice and sentence structure) and “perplexity” (how comprehensible it is to the system).
• The tool has become a hit with educators and had 30,000 signups in its first week when it launched in January.
• It’s self-admittedly imperfect and can trip up on non-English speakers, but it’s proven more successful than industry leader Turnitin’s own software and OpenAI’s proprietary tool.
• GPTZero is free for up to 5,000 characters of text, with paid subscriptions ranging  from $9.99/month to $19.99/month.

The company’s newest tool, a plugin called “Origin,” can be integrated into Microsoft Word and track a user’s writing to show they’re the original author.

During his spring break, Tian turned GPTZero into a full-fledged company and raised a $3.5 million seed round led by Uncork Capital and Neo. Not a bad way to leave college.