AI this, AI that. AI writing assistants are seeping their way into academia. Students are using them to write essays, research papers, college applications, and more. This sudden influx of AI in the education world leaves teachers and professors wondering what to do. Recently, a new intelligent AI detection tool called Winston AI came out. Winston AI allows educators to check student work to determine if it was written with the support of artificial intelligence.
By using Winston AI, both professors and teachers have the ability to detect the extent student writing has been created with artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT. Winston also offers support for checking plagiarized content, combining two tools in one for optimizing an educator's grading workflow. Over the next few minutes, we’ll go over the best features of Winston and what it means for you.
What Exactly is Winston AI?
Launched in February 2023, Winston AI is currently the latest AI detection and plagiarism checker for educators. This new online tool uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology to recognize digital texts and handwritten documents and convert them into a machine-readable text format. You can scan student or client writing and determine the extent it was written with the support of AI.
According to the team over at Winston, their software is trained to detect both human-generated and AI content. It can detect content from popular AI writing tools such as ChatGPT, Copy AI, and Jasper AI. Their co-founder has said, “Our mission is to help protect the integrity of original content while ensuring the accuracy and validity of text-based information.”
Why are AI-Detection Tools Essential in Education?
Contrary to what some students might think, AI-detection tools are not created against them, but rather to help them. With the help of software, educators can identify areas where students are struggling and see where they need some guiding help.. This early intervention helps teachers and professors create customized learning plans so students can easily catch up. If nothing gets done about the rise in AI content in schools, we’re in for a serious problem across the world soon.
Winston AI Key Features
Quick Scan
After logging in, you will see the Quick Scan button on the left side. Clicking this button will lead you to the page where you can place your text. The minimum number of words allowed is 500. You can also add the title and author of the document.
File Upload
Instead of placing the text, you can upload files you want to scan. Winston AI supports multiple file formats, including docx, pdf, jpg, png, and tiff.
OCR Technology
Winston AI uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) in scanning documents. This technology scans text images and handwriting. Winston converts the images into text data, which is then analyzed in both the AI detection tool and plagiarism checker.
Project and Document Management
With Winston AI, managing your projects and documents is very easy. Their respective tabs are just below the Dashboard tab. In each tab, you can arrange your files from oldest to newest and vice versa. These clickable links can also be viewed in snippets or bullet points.
Team Management
As the main user, you can create a team and add an unlimited number of team members. To do that, use the dropdown menu on your account and go to Team Settings. There, you can input the name of your team, the names of your team members, and their email addresses.
Multilingual Support
As of now, Winston AI supports English and French. In the coming weeks, German and Spanish will be added. In the future, other languages may also be added.
Printable PDF Reports
After scanning documents, Winston AI can generate printable PDF reports. To use this feature, go to the dropdown menu on the Report tab, located on the lower left side of your screen. This great feature is included in all premium accounts.
Plagiarism Checker
Aside from being a reliable AI detection tool, Winston AI can also detect plagiarized content. The Plagiarism Checker is available for Enterprise and Platinum users.
How Accurate is Winston AI?
Winston AI prides itself on being one of the most reliable solutions in the field of AI-generated content detection. The creators of the tool assert a remarkable 99% accuracy rate when it comes to discerning the origins of any given piece of content. As someone who appreciates evidence-based claims, I decided to put Winston AI through its paces to evaluate its efficacy in detecting AI-generated content!
After running several rounds of tests, I was genuinely impressed with Winston's capabilities. In scenarios where the content was unequivocally generated by AI platforms like ChatGPT, Winston AI didn't miss anything—accurately identifying the artificial origins of the text. Its user-friendly interface and prompt results made the testing process a breeze, further solidifying its value as a dependable content verification tool. Below, I'll show you how it works.
However, it's important to acknowledge that no AI tool is infallible. While Winston AI consistently performed at a high level, there were instances where its predictions were not as precise. These results could be attributed to various factors, including the complexity and length of the content being examined.
It's essential to consider the tool as one piece of the puzzle, using it to supplement, rather than replace, human judgment in verifying the authenticity of content.
How Does Winston AI Work as an AI Detection Tool?
To use Winston as an AI detection tool, simply go to the Quick Scan and paste the text you want to be checked. Alternatively, you can upload a file from your computer. Hit Scan and let Winston AI take care of things. Amazingly, results are available within seconds, you’ll get a probability score between 0-100%.
To test if Winston AI can really detect AI-generated content, I asked ChatGPT to write for me a 500-word paragraphs about the pros and cons of using AI-detection tools:
Without changing a thing, Winston marked it as 100% AI generated (with a 0% human score). This is pretty good off the bat. It wasn't even a little generous.
Winston AI Free vs Premium Plans
Winston provides a generous free plan for those looking to try the tool out before making any commitments. The main difference between a free and a premium account of Winston AI is the number of scanned words available to your account. The free trial offers 7 days of testing and limits you to a 2000-word limit. Free account holders cannot use the Plagiarism Checker.
Premium accounts have increased monthly word limits, depending on the plan. Enterprise and Platinum accounts allow unlimited team members, while the free trial and Growth accounts only allow a single user. Growth account holders are also not able to use the Plagiarism Checker.
How Much Does Winston AI Cost?
Winston AI offers three different premium plans – Growth, Enterprise, and Platinum, with each of them offering monthly or annual payment options. Monthly payments are $18 for Growth, $29 for Enterprise, and $49 for Platinum.
Growth – With a price of $18 for 80,000 words, 1,000 words cost $0.225.
Enterprise – With a price of $29 for 200,000 words, 1000 words cost $0.145.
Platinum – With a price of $49 for 500,000 words, 1000 words cost $0.098.
On average, you can save 25% if you choose the Annual payment option. Definitely an option to consider if you like the product & know you will continue use it throughout the span of a year.
Who Could Benefit From Using Winston AI?
Educators, including professors and teachers, can greatly benefit from Winston AI in their professional endeavors. With the prevalence of online resources, students may be tempted to engage in academic dishonesty by plagiarizing content. Winston AI's Plagiarism Checker assists educators in identifying instances of plagiarism in essays, reports, and other assignments, ensuring that students are held accountable for producing original work. Additionally, by detecting AI-generated content, educators can maintain the integrity of their assessments and uphold the value of their students' education.
Digital publishers, such as website owners, bloggers, and web content writers, can also utilize Winston AI to protect their online content. Plagiarism can severely damage the reputation and credibility of a publisher, while AI-generated content may not align with the publisher's desired quality or messaging. By using Winston AI, digital publishers can verify the originality of their articles and identify potential instances of AI-generated content.
Winston AI Pros and Cons
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Alternatives to Winston AI
Winston AI is a fairly new AI-detection tool for educators. That being said, it is not surprising that there are other similar tools to choose from. The tool has a few close competitors but not all of them are in the education niche.
Passed AI
Like Winston AI, Passed AI is also designed to help educators detect AI-generated content but in a more advanced way. With this AI-detection tool for education, teachers can check the student’s work that is submitted via Google Docs with Edit access. The Chrome extension will then release a detailed audit report and probability score.
Pros
- 14 day trial to both AI detection and plagiarism checker
- User-friendly UI
- Reasonable pricing
- Trained on GPT-3.5, GPT-3, GPT-2, GPT-J, and GPT-NEO
- Chrome Extension
- Google Docs Integration
- Document History Audit (teachers can “watch” the students)
Cons
- Does not highlight text
Originality AI
Originality.AI is one of the pioneers in AI writing detection. Founded in December 2022, Originality is a great solution for website & digital content publishers.
Pros
- Free trial with 25 credits (it used to be 50)
- Free trial includes Plagiarism Checker
- Free text comparison tool (URL, files, and text)
- Affordable price ($0.01/100 words per scan)
- Chrome Extension
- Supports multiple text file formats
- Scans unlimited websites
- Can detect AI-content (GPT-3, GPT-2, GPT-NEO, GPT-J)
- Highlights text (AI and plagiarized content)
- Unlimited team members
Cons
- Designed for online marketers, with less focus on educators
- No WordPress integration
Crossplag AI
Crossplag AI is another plagiarism checker with an AI detection tool. This online tool is designed for individuals, educators and educational institutions, but can also be useful to bloggers and online marketers. It claims to have 300 million+ archived documents and billions of articles for comparison.
Pros
- Completely free AI detection tool (no sign-up/credit card required)
- Text and file upload
- Produces 3 outputs – Human, AI, and Mix
- Provide a percentage probability score (0-100%)
- 25+ language support on plagiarism checker
Cons
- No free trial for the plagiarism checker
- AI detection supports one language only (English)
- No team settings for AI detection
- No Chrome extension
- 1,000-word limit per AI detection scan
- AI detection tool still in Beta (results may sometimes be inaccurate)
- Focuses more on plagiarism checking rather than AI detection
So, Is Winston AI Worth Trying?
Yes, Winston AI is definitely worth trying, especially if you are a professor or a teacher! Start off with the free trial and see if it's right for your needs. Despite being new, this AI-detection tool + plagiarism checker seems to very promising. Dubbed by the company as the “world's most powerful AI-generated text detection software.” Winston AI aims to be the best AI detection software in the education industry. Again, it doesn't hurt to try!
Final Thoughts
We’re entering some really weird times. What will the future of education actually look like? We might have to revert back to paper essays if we reach a point where students continuously try to evade their assignments. As for now, I don’t think every student fully knows the potential of AI, and if they do – why try to cheat away their education? Winston is definitely a great helping tool in the world of AI detection, and offers teachers a suite of tools for seamlessly checking & grading student work. Grading is annoying, and figuring out cheaters is even more annoying! Why not work smarter, not harder. Have you used Winston? What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below!
