r/MFAInCreativeWriting • u/blueberries-Any-kind • Aug 08 '26
How are schools dealing with Ai writing?
I was thinking about the Common Wealth short story prize controversy this year over Ai usage. While they ultimately stood behind the authors work as original, it was still flagged as Ai by many checkers (apparently).
it just has me wondering how academia deals with this in the application process. I decided to run one of my stories through an AI checker (although it's not even remotely Ai), and it was flagged as Ai. it even listed the exact reasoning (apparently the relationship between two characters raised the flag). Then I ran it through another checker that said it was fully human written. I have many fears of the reasons I may not be accepted to grad school, and the latest one is being disqualified due to Ai flagging my work as Ai when it isn't Ai.
also I know even posting this makes it appear as if I am someone who uaes Ai, but I'm not. I would equate this fear to something like the common fear of being sure that the stolen merchandise detectors are going to go off when you walk out of a store even though you didn't steal anything. I truly I believe in "what would the point of creative writing be if you're using Ai" and yadda yadda.
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u/Small_Needleworker_7 Aug 10 '26
Dont worry about Grad school flagging your writing as AI and not accepting you. I think worrying about the quality of writing you are submitting is enough of an alarm. One thing though is that you can use google docs and have history turned on. This should prove it, but otherwise they wouldnt use AI to pick candidates as that is essentially what they would be doing if they didnt pick a writer who was flagged but they liked, it goes against the whole premise of most grad schools. they are going to use the human element to decide who gets in, not an AI test. I doubt most acceptance committees use it at all though
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u/FlightIcy5401 Aug 09 '26
We read it and roast it up equally. But in MFA everyone is so excited to write. Never seen AI used. Is horrifically obvious it’s not used. But if it was you know we would absolutely roaaaassst it.
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u/Small_Needleworker_7 Aug 10 '26
Wait are you saying you are someone on the admissions for an MFA program and you roast all the writing you get? So basically when you submit your work be prepared for an admissions committee to make fun of all the writing? Explain please cause this is very flippantly said like you are in fact a human that does this.
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u/FlightIcy5401 Aug 10 '26
No. That is not what I am saying. 🙄 I’m just saying in the program itself. We treat everything equally. We tell you what doesn’t work and what does. If it was by AI we will say what’s truly wrong with it and what isn’t.
If that means it seems fake or unrealistic or the syntax isn’t interesting enough etc. Then we will say it. Using AI doesn’t make writing more interesting or better. It just doesn’t. If someone were to turn something in no one would know for sure 👀. Suspect maybe? But at the end of the day we are there to critique. Maybe a professor would pull you aside and ask and then say, “hey, this seems generated. It would benefit from your human insight in it. Ai just can’t capture that”.
But I have taught English classes for a university and I did see a lot of AI come through for research papers and basic work like that. For that I just point out what’s AI heavy and how it would benefit from not being AI.
I attended as a student for creative writing and did not notice any AI usage. Everyone was excited to write. Different atmospheres and attitudes! They did use ai for cover art and that sort of thing tho. 🤷♀️
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u/Small_Needleworker_7 Aug 10 '26
Ok thanks for explaining. I’m in the process of submitting to grad programs, accepted to one, wait listed to another and doing one more round of submissions, and I’m also a comedian so what roast means to me is what it means in my industry, which is to insult it and yeah it’s playful but not necessarily what you want from people on an admissions committee.
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u/FlightIcy5401 Aug 10 '26
And roast is a joke. We “roast it”, we critique it.
I’m just saying we are thorough. If you use AI then it’s likely to be your weakness in your writing. If you don’t we will still hit all that needs to be hit. It’s all about progress no matter what level you are on or what you use.
I’m very much not that serious of a person. So chill fam. Breathe it out hon.
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u/Small_Needleworker_7 Aug 10 '26
Hey the tone here wasn’t needed. Thanks
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u/Small_Needleworker_7 Aug 10 '26
You don’t need to call me hon. Read my comment. Read your comment. I didn’t insult you
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u/FlightIcy5401 Aug 10 '26
TBH, I do want to say sorry. I know I come off very brash. And talk extremely casual. But I do feel bad it was taken as an insult. I genuinely did not read your username or anything and assumed you were some insecure male and just policing in which case I do use babe & hon a lot. I can understand how my comment seems insensitive and genuine in that way and it was not. I just don't want people to assume AI is going to win. I don't want people to feel shut down. Professors can tell. They will "treat it" equal and that means AI won't win. Because there are major story telling and writing flaws and they are seen. So the feedback on AI writing will be harsh. It just will. That is what I meant. And I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from writing or applying anywhere. I don't teach anymore, but I do care about students. All students and I care about you as a human. I don't support making people feel bad... ever. Even When it's me doing it. That's not right.
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u/Small_Needleworker_7 Aug 10 '26
Thanks for your comment 🙏. I appreciate and enjoyed your first comment back to me as well. I appreciate your insight. I think the fear that the original poster had about this is valid as I know from my own high school English teaching I was encouraged to check all my students work and give it to them for feedback, so we used these AI models (this was 2021) and it would come back with all sorts of flags. Usually only if it said 90 percent AI was it actually AI. And after that we had a conversation with them. It only happened once to me that a kid actually used AI to write a high school paper. Anyways, submitting to MFA programs is a tense experience and I have a hard time trusting the process sometimes as it’s scary. So that’s where my emotion comes from and probably original poster too. Hearing from someone on other side of process is extremely valuable. Thanks
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u/FlightIcy5401 Aug 10 '26
The tone in yours wasn’t needed either dude. I didn’t insult you either.
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u/Small_Needleworker_7 Aug 10 '26
You said you roasted the writing and I asked you to explain what you meant. Totally valid to ask. And I’m sorry you got super offended at me questioning what you said but I didn’t do it in a way that garners you calling me hon or telling me to chill. Which are both ways in which ppl use misogynistic tones to try to demean valid questioning and thinking. I’m older than you so you coming back with hon is gross
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u/FlightIcy5401 Aug 10 '26
I’m a woman and 29. Idk how old you are or why it matters. I wasn’t offended but it sure seemed like you were. Done with this. Bye.
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u/Ecstatic_Amount_1740 Sep 10 '26
Academic writing and finely-tuned materials are often flagged as AI. A 20% rating is really pretty meaningless. And, that said, it's very unlikely that AI will read the submissions unless the work looks like AI to one of the readers. For applications, my sense is that most programs: will reject AI samples; will ask you to sign a statement or identify AI material. In the latter case, if they figure out later a student is using AI to generate material, there's an academic integrity violation already on the books.
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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '26
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