The Universities of Southampton, Newcastle, and Westminster have begun phasing out Turnitin, following the company’s decision to allow students’ writing to be used to train their generative AI model.
Turnitin planned to change its End-User Licence Agreement (EULA) in July of this year to make way for the plans, however the changes have been pushed back until September 2027. There remains significant doubt over what changes will eventually be made.
The decision sparked major concerns, with the University of Southampton stressing their commitment to protecting the “data, intellectual property and academic work” of their students.
Alongside ongoing ethical debates on AI usage the University of Westminster called Turnitin “largely ineffective” considering the main contemporary threat to academic integrity is now the generation of text via Large Language Models. Plagiarism checkers such as Turnitin are known to be less effective at assessing AI usage.
Despite it costing universities thousands of pounds to provide the service, a study which tested seven AI checkers including Turnitin found just a 39.5% accuracy rate of detecting AI across 805 samples.
Moreover, non-native English speakers are more likely to be mischaracterised as using AI due translation and linguistic differences, according to a study conducted by Stanford.
One UCL student told The Cheese Grater, “I don't like the idea of making all that data so easily accessible to AI companies,” and another asked, “what happens if Turnitin has a data breach?”
The company admits they use student writing to train its internal AI classifier model. This model is used to detect AI usage within students’ work, raising concerns that students could face incorrect accusations of AI use.
Some time remains before the substance of Turnitin’s revised EULA will come to light, but UCL may face scrutiny if their contract continues beyond 2027.
A UCL spokesperson said:
“We are aware of Turnitin’s proposed changes to its End User Licence Agreement, which will not be implemented before September 2027 at the earliest.
"We recognise concerns about the implications of these changes for student and staff data and remain committed to ensuring that both are appropriately protected.
“While we are unable to comment on the details of our contractual arrangements or future procurement plans at this stage, protecting the interests and data of our students and staff remains a priority.”