27/09/2025
UCT SCRAPS AI DETECTION 09.2025 Oom Biza Van Die Kaap
Big shifts happening at South African universities
By Myles Illidge
Artificial intelligence (AI) engineer and Zaio founder Akhil Boddu says the current AI era is a confusing time for universities, with some scrapping AI detection software in the grading process.
Boddu spoke to Cape Talk after the University of Cape Town scrapped AI detection software as part of its efforts to shift towards ethical AI use.
The AI engineer agrees with removing the use of AI detectors in assignment submissions, but argues that students should provide a log of their interactions with the technology if they use AI.
“There should be a new step for students where they have to log their histories with ChatGPT. How did they prompt ChatGPT? How did they derive that final solution?” said Boddu.
He said this should be a requirement just like the requirement for students to cite their sources in research papers and other projects.
“Having an extra page to just have full disclosures of how AI was used in the assignment, I think that’ll be very helpful,” said Boddu.
“It’ll also just push institutions to change the way they do assignments such that they’re more effective for industry.”
He also clarified his support for removing AI detectors, saying it discourages students from using the technology, which could be critical in future roles.
“The point of education is to have people to go into industry after graduation and, of course, lead with research,” said Boddu.
“In industry, the need for people to know AI tools, being comfortable using ChatGPT or whatever AI tools are relevant, has become so important.”
He added that students should be trained to use AI tools and not be discouraged from using them.
Asked about AI humanisers, or tools that paraphrase AI-generated content to make it seem like a human created it, Boddu said detectors have advanced to where they would flag the content.
“Turnitin released a new feature in August, the AI bypasser detector. If your chat initially started with ChatGPT, the detector will flag that,” he said.
“Humanisers are effective only to a certain extent. The human has to put in more effort in cleaning up that text, putting in their own voice, and paraphrasing further.”
He said humanisers on their own won’t fool AI detectors because they are improving rapidly.
The University of Cape Town (UCT) scrapped the use of AI detection software as part of a shift towards ethical AI use in early August 2025.
According to Sukaina Walji, the director of the institute’s Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching, AI detection tools aren’t reliable enough to use confidently.
“We decided to discontinue the use of the AI Turnitin Detector score for a number of reasons. The main reason is that, in our experience, these tools are not reliable enough,” she said.
She explained that, given the sophistication of AI tools, it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish between human and AI-generated content.
“What we are finding is that there are a lot of false positives, where students are accused of using AI when in fact they haven’t, but also false negatives,” said Walji.
“These are just not reliable tools for us to feel comfortable to continue using them in the teaching and learning ecosystem.”
She said incidents where the tools produce false positive results lead to mistrust between students and staff.
“That is fundamentally the wrong way to approach teaching and learning,” said Walji.
UCT has adopted a two-fold approach to students’ use of AI, and Walji said there are some scenarios in which AI use won’t be allowed at all.
“Our approach is two-fold. One is to continue talking to students about why they should think about using these tools in their assessments because it’s really about the learning,” she said.
“Also, we have to think and change our assessments. AI is here. Students are using artificial intelligence tools, and so assessment strategies need to change.”
For scenarios where AI isn’t allowed, UCT resorts to observed assessments, including invigilated exams, orals, and observed practicals.
Walji explained that, given that AI tools are part of the emerging landscape in many fields, they can be used to enhance assessments.
“For example, it may be encouraged to use AI tools and therefore, students can submit drafts, declare use, reflect on outputs, and so on,” she said.
“I think what is happening is that the assessment practices themselves need to change and are changing. It is the role of the university to assess students with integrity.”
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