Does UCL use AI detection? No
Short answer
No. UCL does not run AI detection on submissions, so no AI score is generated for your work.
Module rules on permitted AI use still apply either way, and a detector score is never the whole case — the university’s own statement and what it means for you are below.
What UCL has said
Detection not used in marking (general). States that "UCL does not use GenAI detectors when marking"; concerns are handled through conversation with the student. Earlier guidance advised staff against third-party checking tools.
Source (8 Oct 2024, modified 11 Nov 2024): GenAI and academic integrity
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What this means if you study here
UCL's guidance states plainly that 'UCL does not use GenAI detectors when marking'; concerns are handled through conversation with the student, and earlier guidance also advised staff against third-party checking tools. For a university of UCL's scale, that is a significant institutional bet on human judgement over automated scores.
UCL separately gives students access to a Turnitin similarity checker for drafts through Moodle — similarity, not AI detection. If you're at UCL and worried about an AI flag: no institutional AI score exists; what you owe is compliance with each module's stated AI rules, and what protects you is your documented process.
Turnitin at UCL
UCL says AI-detection tools are not relied on, so a Turnitin AI score should not decide anything about your work here. Similarity checking is a separate feature and remains the sector norm — assume source matching still runs on submissions.
How the AI writing report behaves wherever it is enabled — the 300-word minimum, the 1–19% asterisk band, and why the score is never proof on its own — is covered in does Turnitin detect AI?
Before you submit, anywhere
- Policies change and are re-verified here quarterly — the university’s linked statement above is always the authority, and your module brief overrides everything.
- Whatever the institutional toggle, keep your drafts and version history: process evidence decides disputes, not scores.
- No third-party tool predicts a Turnitin result — here is why. Use checks to understand your own writing, not to chase a number.
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