A Tale of Two Texts, a Robot, and Authorship : A Comparison Between a Human-Written and a ChatGPT-Generated Text

Sammanfattning: This research paper analyzes the impact of AI-generated text on academic writing, specifically on authorship and voice. OpenAI's ChatGPT, a large language model, is used as a representative case study. The rise of AI in education has sparked debates regarding its advantages and disadvantages. The use of AI in written assessments and its potential impact on traditional notions of authorship, originality, and academic integrity are key concerns. The present study compares an essay written by a student for an English literature course with an equivalent essay generated through ChatGPT. It investigates whether AI can meet the formal requirements of academic writing and the distinctiveness of voice in the generated text, through the lens of assertiveness, self-identification and authorial presence. The present study also highlights the difficulties involved in generating such text. The results show that ChatGPT can produce seemingly appropriate context-based texts, but it requires assistance with factual accuracy and the nuanced characteristics of authorship found in human writing. The AI-generated text lacks the depth, specificity, and accurate source referencing present in human-generated text. The present study concludes that although AI has potential as a tool, its current capabilities, particularly in generating academic text, are limited.