Georgia college student used Grammarly, now she is on academic probation

DAHLONEGA, Ga. - A University of North Georgia (UNG) student is on academic probation after she says she used Grammarly to proofread a paper. The school says the action was taken because they detected the use of artificial intelligence in violation of their plagiarism clause in the student code of conduct handbook.

"It's just been very frustrating," UNG junior Marley Stevens said.

Stevens, after submitting a paper for her criminal justice class in October, says she was surprised to learn her professor gave her a "0" for the assignment and reported her to the Office of Student Integrity.

"He was like you used AI on your paper, you get a zero, that was it," Stevens said.

"I had Grammarly installed in my web browser, but I've only ever had the free version, so all it did was fix my punctuation and my spelling," she added.

University of North Georgia (FOX 5)

What is Turnitin?

She submitted the paper through the program Turnitin, which flagged it for the use of AI.

Turnitin launched an AI writing detection feature in March 2023 to find when AI writing tools generate words used in submissions rather than the students' own writing.

Earlier this month, Stevens learned she'd been placed on academic probation.

University of North Georgia junior Marley Stevens says she was placed on academic probation after using Grammarly on a paper she submitted for her criminal justice class in October. (FOX 5)

What is Grammarly?

Grammarly says its suggestions for grammar and spelling changes aren't made through generative AI, which is an algorithm which can create new content on its own.

Grammarly sent FOX 5 a statement reading in part:

"Grammarly’s trusted writing support helps students improve their writing skills by offering suggestions for spelling, grammatical correctness, clarity, concision, and tone. These suggestions are not powered by generative AI and can still be accessed even when generative AI features are deactivated or not used by the student. However, some third-party tools may mistakenly identify any use of Grammarly as generative AI. We encourage institutions to establish clear policies on acceptable AI usage and adhere to those guidelines when assessing student success."

University of North Georgia (FOX 5)

Stevens said she's used Grammarly on other assignments before without problems.

"I had teachers before who made us install it and turn a screenshot in that we had done so-and-so I've written my papers the same exact way all through college in a Google Doc with my Grammarly extension. I've never had any problems," she explained.

AI policies at Georgia universities

Regarding its AI policies, the University of North Georgia issued a statement reading in part:

"Our faculty members communicate specific guidelines regarding the use of AI for various classes, and those guidelines are included in the class syllabi. The inappropriate use of AI is also addressed in our Student Code of Conduct."

Stevens took to TikTok to share her story, which has millions of views.

"I didn't think posting it on TikTok would fix it for me with the school in any way, but AI is really getting integrated into everything, and so I wanted to warn other people like hey if you're gonna do this, talk to your professors every semester, ask them specific questions," she said.

"If it's a college, they should have a school-wide policy for things like this instead of just leaving it up to each and every professor," she added.

Stevens' academic probation currently lasts until February 2025.