Leigh Gaines

John Grady teaches English at Shaker Heights High School outside Cleveland.

He knows AI detectors aren't perfect, but one thing he likes about the software... It's something to kind of hang your hat on, the way we did with the plagiarism checker.

Grady says he doesn't only rely on AI detectors.

He also uses revision history tools to see how student assignments developed over time.

For NPR News, I'm Leigh Gaines.

Numerous studies show several of the most popular AI detectors flagged some things as AI-generated that weren't, and vice versa.

Nonetheless, NPR found that some school districts from Utah to Florida to Ohio are spending thousands of dollars on these tools.

John Grady teaches English at Shaker Heights High School outside Cleveland.

He knows AI detectors aren't perfect, but one thing he likes about the software...

Grady says he doesn't only rely on AI detectors.

He also uses revision history tools to see how student assignments developed over time.

For NPR News, I'm Leigh Gaines.

Anthropic used an automated tool to analyze 74,000 conversations professors had with its AI chatbot, Claude.

The findings show they used it for things like lesson planning and administrative tasks, and some of the conversations were about grading student work.

Mark Watkins at the University of Mississippi studies the impact of AI on higher education.

Anthropic also surveyed professors who said grading was the task that AI was least effective at.

For NPR News, I'm Leigh Gaines.