Artificial intelligence has taken the academic world by storm over the past year or so. With free tools like ChatGPT readily available, students now have instant access to AI-generated content that can mimic human writing.

But as the technology advances, so do the questions: Can AI write essays as well as a human? Is there a real difference between AI writing and human writing? And crucially, can professors tell the difference between AI and human essays?

In order to give practical answers to these questions, we recently conducted a study comparing essays written by AI with those written by our expert academics. The results were revealing, and they confirmed what many educators and students already suspected: when it comes to academic writing, human intelligence still outperforms artificial intelligence. Let’s explore how AI-written essays compare to human-written ones, what our study uncovered, and whether you should be relying on AI to write your essays and coursework assignments.

The Rise of AI Essay Writing

AI writing tools like ChatGPT are capable of producing surprisingly coherent and grammatically correct essays. Simply enter a question, and in a matter of seconds, you have a complete response: an AI-written essay that appears convincing (only on the surface).

While AI essay writing may seem convenient, its growing use in education raises serious concerns. Can these tools replicate human creativity, reasoning, and academic rigour? Or are they simply regurgitating patterns based on data?

Why Students Use AI for Essays

We've all been there, right? You're knee-deep in your latest assignment, and the deadline is just hours away. Under pressure, many students turn to tools like ChatGPT for essays, whether due to time constraints, language barriers, or a lack of confidence. Sure, AI offers speed and convenience, but often at the expense of originality, depth, and academic integrity.

Some use AI to write first draft of the essay, and that is acceptable to some extent, while others are tempted to submit AI-generated work in its entirety. Either way, the distinction between AI and human writing has never mattered more.

The Difference Between Human Writing vs AI Writing

At first glance, it can be difficult to distinguish between an AI-generated or human-written essay. Both can be well-structured, grammatically sound, and relevant to the question. However, when examined closely, the differences between AI and human writing become more apparent.

Key Differences in Style and Substance

  • Argumentation: Human writing demonstrates critical thought and builds an argument. AI is often shallow, staying descriptive or formulaic.
  • Voice and perspective: Human essays reflect personal interpretation. AI lacks a consistent or recognisable voice.
  • Nuance: AI struggles with subtlety, irony, or ambiguity, but in these areas the human brain excels.
  • Evidence and citations: AI can generate sources, but they are sometimes fabricated or inaccurately used.
  • Depth: Human writing delves deeper, often linking concepts in original and insightful ways.

Our Study: Human vs AI Essays in Practice

To test how well AI-written essays hold up against essays written by humans, we conducted a blind-marking experiment. Independent academic markers blindly assessed structure, argument, sources, knowledge and overall presentation in sets of two essays, one written by OpenAI's ChatGPT, the other by our own academic experts in that discipline.

All essays were written to the same brief and designed to reflect either a 2:1 or a 1st class undergraduate standard. The assessors didn’t know which was which.

The study highlights that while AI can generate passable content, it struggles to meet the expectations of higher academic standards, especially when originality, critical thought, and coherence are assessed.

Results at a Glance

  1. Essays written by human academics consistently outperformed those written by AI.
  2. Human-written essays were more analytical, better structured, and contained more original insight.
  3. AI-generated essays often lacked a coherent argument and used questionable or fabricated references.

Artificial Intelligence vs Human Intelligence in Essay Writing

This leads us to the current major debate: artificial intelligence essays vs human intelligence essays. What’s the difference?

Speed vs Intellectual Reasoning

AI processes data at lightning speed and excels at recognising patterns. It can summarise vast amounts of information, mimic essay structure, and respond to prompts with apparent fluency. However, it does not truly understand the content it generates. Its responses are based on probability, not comprehension.

Also, to better understand how these systems analyse and replicate text, it’s worth exploring how AI detectors work and the underlying algorithms that spot AI-generated content.

Human Depth and Critical Thinking

Human intelligence, by contrast, is shaped by experience, emotion, reasoning, and cultural context. In a typical human brain and AI essay comparison, human writing brings critical evaluation, creative insight, and emotional nuance. AI simply assembles content.

An academic essay is a reasoned argument. It must evaluate, contrast, and persuade. And these are distinctly human strengths that AI cannot replicate meaningfully.

Can AI Replace Human Creativity and Intelligence?

So, can AI replace human intelligence? Or even more pointedly, can AI replace human creativity?

Limitations of Generative AI

Despite the hype, tools like ChatGPT have fundamental limitations. Most notably, they lack genuine understanding, critical reasoning, and the ability to form independent judgement. While AI is capable of producing large volumes of content with impressive speed, it cannot:

  • Invent truly original ideas
  • Offer ethical or emotional judgement
  • Interpret texts in context
  • Innovate within academic frameworks

AI tools operate by predicting the next word in a sequence, not by understanding. And that’s the reason why its outputs are often shallow, generic, or repetitive.

Creativity in Academic Work

AI writing cannot replace the intellectual spark that defines human writing. Academic creativity means developing novel interpretations, offering unique perspectives, and experimenting with structure or tone in meaningful ways. These are qualities rooted in lived experiences and personal viewpoints. In other words, traits that only human writers can bring to the table consistently.

The Bottom Line: Should You Use ChatGPT for Essays?

Using ChatGPT to clarify ideas or summarise readings can be helpful. But using it to write your entire essay? That’s risky.

The Dangers of AI

While AI can produce text quickly and fluently, using it uncritically comes with serious drawbacks:

  • Academic misconduct

    Submitting an AI-written essay as your own work may breach your university’s academic integrity policy, leading to disciplinary action.

  • Reduced learning and skill development

    Essays are opportunities to practise forming arguments, thinking critically, and engaging with ideas. Outsourcing that process to AI undermines your own academic growth.

  • Detection and penalties

    Universities are increasingly adopting AI detection tools. Even if an essay appears polished, it could still be flagged if it lacks depth, originality, or a consistent human voice.

AI-generated essays may seem polished, but they fall short in terms of structure, originality, and argument. So if you're asking: is AI better than human writing, the answer is clear: only human writing is capable of meeting academic standards consistently.

Can Professors Tell If You Use AI to Write an Essay?

Yes, they do. And they’re getting better at it. While AI detection tools are not accurate and AI-generated content can pass basic plagiarism checks, many professors can definitely detect human or AI-generated text without the need to rely on tools.

Signs of AI-Generated Work

  • Lack of critical engagement or an identifiable academic voice
  • Vague or overly generalised content
  • Repetition and filler language
  • Inaccurate or fake citations
  • Specific patterns in sentences

So, if you decide to use AI tools for your next assignment, do it at your own risk. Even without detection tools, tutors can become suspicious if your writing suddenly shifts in tone or quality.

And How About Proving That You Didn’t Use AI?

Worried you’ll be falsely accused? The best way to prove you didn’t use AI is to document your process to show progression and thought:

  • Save drafts and notes
  • Show feedback exchanges with tutors
  • Submit outlines or plans

Final Thoughts: Human Essays Still Lead the Way

AI tools are improving rapidly, but human-written essays and general academic content remain far superior when it comes to academic rigour, critical thinking, and original argument. Our own study showed that essays written by real academics consistently outperformed those produced by AI, even when assessed blindly. So while AI may offer quick answers, it still falls short where it matters most: quality.

If you’re a student who wants the very best (i.e. essays written by real subject experts, tailored to your question and academic level), then there is no doubt: human writing remains the only real option.

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