OpenAI’s AI Text Classifier is no longer available. The tool failed to accurately classify whether a human or AI wrote submitted text, the company confirmed.
Page not found. The classifier page now shows a “Page Not Found – We couldn’t find the page you were looking for” message, rather than the tool.
What happened. OpenAI added a note to the original blog post announcing the AI Text Classifier:
- “As of July 20, 2023, the AI classifier is no longer available due to its low rate of accuracy. 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.”
Why we care. AI content detectors have become popular among marketers, editors and SEOs since the rise of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools. However, this is a good reminder that OpenAI’s tool (like other similar tools) often fail at their only job – detecting AI content.
R.I.P. Text Classifier, 2023-2023. OpenAI announced the tool Jan. 31. It didn’t even survive a full six months. At launch, OpenAI warned that it was “impossible to reliably detect all AI-written text” and the company had “not thoroughly assessed the effectiveness of the classifier in detecting content written in collaboration with human authors.”
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About the author
Danny Goodwin has been Managing Editor of Search Engine Land & Search Marketing Expo – SMX since 2022. He joined Search Engine Land in 2022 as Senior Editor. In addition to reporting on the latest search marketing news, he manages Search Engine Land’s SME (Subject Matter Expert) program. He also helps program U.S. SMX events.
Goodwin has been editing and writing about the latest developments and trends in search and digital marketing since 2007. He previously was Executive Editor of Search Engine Journal (from 2017 to 2022), managing editor of Momentology (from 2014-2016) and editor of Search Engine Watch (from 2007 to 2014). He has spoken at many major search conferences and virtual events, and has been sourced for his expertise by a wide range of publications and podcasts.
