Editorial: How to Spot AI-Plagiarism? Increasing Reliance on AI for Scientific Writing Demands Greater Scrutiny and a Deliberate Strategy

Abstract

There is increasing reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) to create scientific manuscripts. Current AI tools use available online information, make certain assumptions, take into account the query, and produce de novo content that is not attributed to the source material. This results in potentially inaccurate assertions as well as a lack of attribution, which would qualify as AI-plagiarism. It is imperative for educators and research mentors to understand AI, the available tools to create and monitor AI-generated content, and utilize a deliberate strategy to avoid the creation of AI-plagiarism that could otherwise result in personal, professional, and institutional reputational harm. This review presents a case of an AI-generated case report and presents a deliberate strategy to monitor and avoid the creation of scientific AI-plagiarisms. Specifically, the authors recommend: (1) Routine use of AI tools for detecting AI-plagiarism. (2) Scrutinizing conclusions and assertions for scientific validity based on the current best evidence. (3) Checking all references for legitimacy. (4) Noting subtle AI formatting clues.