AI will make plagiarism irrelevant: the tragic Jason Arday story reveals how originality is hard to give up on

AI will eventually make plagiarism irrelevant. AI researchers already tell us that software cannot detect how much of our students’ essays are written by AI. AI is essentially ‘rewriting’ what if finds elsewhere in its own words – what we used to call plagiarism and what some have described Prof. Arday as engaging in. However, over time more and more of what AI selects to rewrite will have been written in the first place by AI. The cyclical process will lead to writing and research that is an amalgam of rewritings with possibly some soft edits by authors. It will become so commonplace that we will no longer be able to see the wood for the trees. But we are reluctant to give up on the idea of originality. After all, many of our professions – both academic and creative – depend on the idea of originality. Blogs like this that exist outside the professional circuit with neither salary nor reviewer fee at stake, may be one of the last traces of originality, where we get to momentarily leave behind the AI crutch. Tragically, the story of Prof. Arday points to our desperation to keep alive the idea of originality as we at the same time give up more of what we do to AI and hence more of the ability to differentiate between the original and the re-written.

American Universities are at a crisis point with student numbers declining and liberal arts colleges closing every month. Only 63% of young people completing high school now go on to college and university. Ireland, New Zealand and other countries have figures in the 80s. The number of US universities in the top 500 has also fallen dramatically over the last number of years. This is all happening as Trump continues to block funding to leading universities and as influencers like Elon Musk give the following advice on university enrolment: “Don’t go”. It is all very well advising young people not to go to university when you are a trillionaire. In the real world, universities and colleges are the only institutions that give the credentialization required by many employers. AI might be replacing tutors for many young people, but it does not yet grant credentials. AI might give you detailed information but it is not yet capable of producing a cadaver for you to practice on as medical schools do. AI might be able to give you recycled information of how to deal with depression but it does not allow you to train in supervised sessions with clients in need of in-person support. The day might come when it will play a more integrated role even in these scenarios but it will take a lot for the prestige and cultural capital of university credentials to be ignored by most employers and most parents.

https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2026/08/22/aux-etats-unis-les-universites-traversent-une-crise-sans-precedent-entre-des-etudes-jugees-trop-cheres-et-une-defiance-alimentee-par-le-discours-de-donald-trump_6752520_3210.html?lmd_medium=al&lmd_campaign=envoye-par-appli&lmd_creation=ios&lmd_source=mail