Grammar and Spelling Tool, QuillBot, Shines With Excellence in its Free Services
In the digital age, tools like QuillBot have become invaluable for improving writing and generating alternatives. However, its AI-powered rephrasing tool raises ethical concerns when it comes to authorship transparency, originality, and plagiarism in academic and journalistic writing.
QuillBot, an AI-powered spelling- and grammar-checking tool, offers rewriting capabilities as well. While its traditional features are useful for catching mistakes and serving as a second pair of eyes, the generative AI rewrites have sparked debate among users and experts.
The ethical use of QuillBot requires honesty about the level of AI assistance involved. In creative and academic contexts, using QuillBot for brainstorming or editing is generally acceptable if disclosed. However, passing AI-rephrased work as purely human-written without acknowledgment can mislead readers or evaluators.
Overreliance on QuillBot's rephrasing features risks producing work that lacks true original thought or simply rearranges others’ ideas, which can be problematic in academia or journalism where independent analysis and integrity are crucial. Tests show QuillBot's rephrasing often still registers strongly as AI-generated and can produce text that feels mechanical despite grammatical polish, potentially undermining trust in the writing's authenticity.
Moreover, many schools and journals have or are developing policies regarding AI use. Using QuillBot without adhering to these policies or without transparency may violate academic integrity standards or editorial guidelines.
Despite its benefits, the author expresses concern that overuse of QuillBot's generative AI features could be detrimental to student writers, potentially stifling their own unique voices and creative process. The author plans to continue using QuillBot, appreciating its traditional spelling and grammar check, but remains skeptical of its generative AI features and is not a fan of such tools for writing in general.
The free version of QuillBot can be used as a Google Chrome extension and monitors writing in emails and stories. The paid subscription version offers unlimited paraphrasing and a sidebar for navigating through each suggestion, with underlined words and phrases for which it suggests changes.
In conclusion, while QuillBot is a powerful tool for improving writing and generating alternatives, ethical implications centre on transparency, originality, and adherence to institutional rules. Responsible use means acknowledging AI assistance when required and ensuring the work maintains genuine intellectual contribution rather than merely masking AI generation.
The student can benefit from using QuillBot's spelling and grammar check, but its generative AI rewrites should be used with caution in education-and-self-development, online-education, and journalism due to concerns about originality and plagiarism. Overuse of QuillBot's rephrasing features could hinder a student's learning by stifling their unique voices and creative process. It is essential for students to use such tools responsibly by acknowledging AI assistance and ensuring their work maintains genuine intellectual contribution. QuillBot's free version is available as a Google Chrome extension, while the paid subscription offers additional features like unlimited paraphrasing.
