--- title: "OpenAI Shutters AI Detection Tool Due to “Low Rate of Accuracy”" description: "Less than six months after its public release, OpenAI has shut down its \"AI classifier,\" its in-house AI-detection tool. Why? It didn't work." date: "2023-07-26" modified: "2023-07-26" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison.md" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-shuttered-ai-detection-tool" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "ai" - "misinformation" - "OpenAI" - "the digest" --- # OpenAI Shutters AI Detection Tool Due to “Low Rate of Accuracy” ![Less than six months after its public release, OpenAI has shut down its "AI classifier," its in-house AI-detection tool. Why? It didn't work.]() *\Image: Getty Images\* ## Open and Shut That was fast. Less than six months after its public release, it appears that OpenAI has shut down its "AI classifier," an AI-detection tool that the ChatGPT creator had previously billed as a "classifier to distinguish between text written by a human and text written by AIs from a variety of providers." "While it is impossible to reliably detect all AI-written text, we believe good classifiers can inform mitigations for false claims that AI-generated text was written by a human," [reads an OpenAI blog post]() introducing the tool, published January 31 of this year, "for example, running automated misinformation campaigns, using AI tools for academic dishonesty, and positioning an AI chatbot as a human." Which, of course, are all very valid concerns, meaning a working AI detector would indeed be helpful to counter these and other AI misuse cases. But fast forward to last week, and on that same blog post, OpenAI quietly issued an update noting that its classification tool is no longer available — and that its woeful inaccuracy is to blame. (A link to the tool has also disappeared from OpenAI's website.) "As of July 20, 2023, the AI classifier is no longer available due to its low rate of accuracy," reads the note, posted on July 20. "We are working to incorporate feedback and are currently researching more effective provenance techniques for text, and have made a commitment to develop and deploy mechanisms that enable users to understand if audio or visual content is AI-generated." They tried, we guess? But it's depressing. If the experts that built ChatGPT can't build a tool that reliably detects its output, it's hard to imagine that anyone else can. ## Unreliable Narrators The failure of the tool feels significant. It could well be argued that the release of ChatGPT kickstarted the rapid public adoption of generative AI, and as these tools continue to gain steam, synthetic content is only going to proliferate. At the same time, it may also get increasingly more difficult to tell whether a piece of content was created by a human or not. A reliable AI detector would go a long way to prevent reality from completely melting away. That said, it isn't *terribly* surprising to see OpenAI shutter the project, considering that 1. they never promised that the machine was completely accurate and 2. no one else has been able to produce a fully reliable AI detection tool. Even so, it feels like a grim sign for any near-term AI detection solutions that OpenAI didn't even make it to half a year before throwing in the towel on its classifier — especially considering that, as it stands, reliable alternatives are pretty nonexistent. **More on OpenAI:** [*Stanford Scientists Find That Yes, ChatGPT Is Getting Stupider*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()