What Is the Difference Between AI and Human Writing? Style, Originality, and Examples

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IntelligentHQ

Human or AI Text? Why AI Writing Tools Still Fall Short in Academia

What Is the Difference Between AI and Human Writing? Style, Originality, and Examples

When Intelligent.com surveyed 588 college students on their use of ChatGPT in February 2024, two-thirds of them admitted that they were using or had used this tool. We probably don’t need to tell you what exactly those students tended to use it for. You can guess that the top use case concerned assignment writing (69%) yourself.

So, are AI tools like ChatGPT the end of services like EssayService, a paper writing help platform? To answer this question, we decided to see how the AI-generated essays fare compared to the ones crafted by EssayService’s experts. Let’s get to it.

How AI-Generated Essay Fared

To get our example of AI writing, we asked ChatGPT to write an essay for a philosophy class. For this comparison, we settled on the topic “Should art be political?” and let the algorithm generate the text. Here’s a piece of it:

What Is the Difference Between AI and Human Writing? Style, Originality, and Examples

To be fair, using AI did have its perks. We got the first draft in under a minute, and we didn’t have to pay a dime for it. But that’s where the upsides ended, at least in our opinion.

The quality of the essay left much to be desired. Philosophy instructors usually warn students to get straight to the point – i.e., the thesis statement – in the introduction. But, as you can see, ChatGPT decided to stuff the introduction with fairly useless and obvious statements, like the fact that the topic “invites a complex and multi-faceted exploration.”

On top of that, when comparing AI writing vs human writing, we couldn’t help but notice that philosophy essays are typically written in the first person. ChatGPT doesn’t seem to know it, however. The text remains impartial and doesn’t mention the pronoun “I” once throughout the essay.

As for the essay’s overall content, it’s passable. Yes, the essay does mention a couple of examples of political art (e.g., Guernica by Pablo Picasso) and philosophers like John Dewey. It doesn’t cite exact sources, however. It also contains fairly irrelevant sections, like the “historical context” for arts and politics.

So, our verdict? If you handed this essay as-is, you might get a C-. Provided you edited it yourself and added citations, of course.

Now, What About a Human-Written Essay?

As EssayService reviews frequently praise the paper quality, we decided to turn to this service to get our hands on a high-quality human-written text example. Within five days, our essay was ready. (You can select deadlines of up to three hours, but the lowest rates apply to deadlines of five days or more, so we chose five days.)

Here’s a taste of it:

Should Art Be Political?

What Is the Difference Between AI and Human Writing? Style, Originality, and Examples

It’s easy to see the difference between our AI-generated essay and the one written by a professional just by looking at the introduction. The thesis statement is clear, the narrative is in the first person, and the first few lines give only the necessary information and nothing more. No filler sentences, no musings about how complex or important the topic is.

As we continued comparing our AI vs human writing examples, we also noticed that this paper’s structure was way different from our AI-generated sample – in a good way. The information flowed in a more logical, concise, and organized way, following the key steps as outlined in the introduction. The writer also made good use of transitional words and phrases.

As for sources, while both examples had roughly the same number of other philosophical works’ mentions, the human-written essay was more diverse in its sourcing. And it included the actual citations!

Finally, EssayService’s paper demonstrated one more reason why AI can’t beat human writers yet. The author picked an interesting and original perspective on the central question. We bet ChatGPT couldn’t have come up with looking at it through the prism of moral obligation!

AI vs Human Writing: So, Which One Is Better?

AI-generated texts do have a couple of advantages, but they both have to do with convenience rather than quality. You get an essay fast without writing anything yourself, and you get it for free. Now, their drawbacks are way more numerous, as exemplified by our sample:

  • The introduction lacked a clear thesis statement
  • The essay structure didn’t comply with the conventions of philosophy paper writing
  • The text wasn’t written in the first person
  • The essay content was bland
  • The text lacked an original approach to the topic

When we put the two samples side by side, we didn’t wonder how to tell the difference between AI and human writing for too long. Unlike the AI-generated text, EssayService’s essay:

  • Started with a clear thesis statement and contained no filler sentences
  • Broke down its key arguments in a concise, well-organized manner
  • Took on a creative approach to the topic
  • Demonstrated a more in-depth knowledge of philosophy as a discipline
  • Was formatted according to our selected MLA style (that’s something that ChatGPT can’t do at all)
  • Followed every requirement from the grading rubric we attached to the order form

Can You Tell What Is The Difference Between AI And Human Writing?

The short answer is, of course! It’s possible to tell the difference with the help of an AI or human text checker, for one. But even without it, an experienced reader can see a clear distinction between the flow of information and the content of the two essays.

What Is the Difference Between AI and Human Writing? Style, Originality, and Examples

Our human-written piece was more detailed, for one. It also cited sources and followed the conventions of a college-level philosophy essay.

If you’re ever tempted to cut some corners using AI writing tools, it’s not just the quality – and the subsequent grade – that you should be worried about. Your instructor doesn’t even have to wonder, “Is this AI or human text?” to check your essay for AI content anymore. Turnitin automatically scans every paper for AI content when running a plagiarism check.

So, if your assignment has to pass a Turnitin check, AI is a no-go. Handing in an AI-generated assignment is likely to run against the code of conduct of your college or university. Penalties vary across institutions, though.

Final Thoughts

Based on our little experiment, we can say with certainty that AI writing tools have a long way to go to rival the quality of human writing – at least in an academic setting.

When comparing human writing vs AI writing, the latter comes across as overly generalized, bland, and unauthentic. It also doesn’t comply with the conventions of the paper format, and that’s something your instructor will probably berate you for.

Getting anything even B-worthy out of AI writing tools will require hours of work on your end. You’ll have to add sources, for one, and format the paper yourself. Then, you may have to rewrite or edit the AI-generated content so that it meets the grading rubric’s guidelines.

All in all, if you find yourself in a bind over an essay and hesitating between using human or AI text, AI writing tools are still far from a match for human expertise.

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