Navigating AI blog writer plagiarism concerns: A complete guide

AI blog writers are widely available and have changed how we create content. But with this new technology comes a significant question: "If I use AI to write a blog post, is that plagiarism?"

It's a valid question. Many are concerned that using an AI might lead to accidentally plagiarizing someone else's work, which could damage a brand's reputation and harm SEO.

This guide addresses the common concerns around AI blog writer plagiarism. We will look at the actual risks, explain the difference between plagiarism and copyright infringement, and show you how to use AI without crossing ethical lines. The goal is to help you create content that is both original and effective.

We'll also touch on how newer tools, such as an AI trained on your content, are designed to address these problems. Instead of only drawing from broad internet data, they learn from your specific knowledge base, which offers a different approach to content creation.

What exactly is AI plagiarism?

Before we get into the AI part, let's establish a clear definition. The basic idea of plagiarism remains the same, but AI makes things more complicated.

A quick look at the types of plagiarism

At its core, plagiarism is passing off someone else's work as your own. You probably remember these from school:

• Direct plagiarism: This is the most blatant kind, involving copying text word-for-word without quotation marks or credit.
• Patchwork plagiarism: This is a bit sneakier. It involves grabbing phrases from different sources and stitching them together into a new piece without citing anything.
• Accidental plagiarism: Sometimes it's an honest mistake, like forgetting to cite a source or messing up the formatting. It is still considered plagiarism.

No matter the type, the core issue is the same: you're not being honest about where the ideas or words came from.

How AI complicates plagiarism

Generative AI complicates these traditional definitions. These models learn by analyzing huge datasets, meaning they can blend ideas from thousands of sources without a clear path back to the original source.

This puts us in a tricky gray area. The San José State University Academic Integrity Policy (F15-7) defines plagiarism as “representing the work of another as one’s own... regardless of how that work was obtained.”

By that logic, submitting a paper written entirely by an AI counts as plagiarism because it is not the student's own work. The same goes for a blog post. If you just copy-paste what an AI generates, you are not the real author.

How AI tools can trigger AI blog writer plagiarism concerns

So, where do potential issues arise when using an AI to help write a blog? It all comes down to how these models work and the data they are fed.

The "black box" of training data

Large language models (LLMs) are trained on an incredible amount of data scraped from the internet. A lot of this happens without the original creators knowing or giving permission.

This can result in the AI producing text that feels too familiar to the source material. We saw this play out in the copyright lawsuit The New York Times filed against OpenAI. The suit claimed that ChatGPT could reproduce near-verbatim excerpts of its articles, which is a significant concern for any content creator.

Google has explicitly stated that they don’t prioritize generic, AI-written content. By it’s very nature, AI writing is not original. Sure, AI will displace content mills. But I don’t think those of us writing helpful content have much to worry about.

Reddit

Broken citations and AI hallucinations

By their very nature, generative AIs break the connection between a piece of information and its source. As research from the University of Chicago Law Review highlights, AI generates text based on patterns, not by looking up and citing specific articles.

This leads to the well-known problem of "AI hallucinations," where the model generates incorrect or fabricated information, such as facts, sources, or quotes. While that is not plagiarism in the traditional sense, it is a practice that can quickly erode audience trust.

The problem with AI detection tools

You might think you can just run your content through an AI detector to be safe. Unfortunately, it is not that simple. Studies have shown these tools are often inaccurate and biased.

For instance, a major Stanford HAI study discovered that AI detectors wrongly flagged over half (61.22%) of essays from non-native English speakers as AI-generated. This high error rate could unfairly penalize people just for their writing style.

Even the companies behind these tools admit they are not perfect. Grammarly, for example, says its AI detector "is not 100% accurate" and should not be treated as the final authority. This leaves creators in a tough position, where even their own original work might get flagged by an imperfect algorithm.

Yep, doing my thesis at the moment. Put it in and got about 35% AI generated. Next day tried it again with almost no changes, came back 0%. What a joke

Reddit

Plagiarism vs. copyright infringement: Why the difference matters for AI blog writer plagiarism concerns

People often confuse "plagiarism" and "copyright infringement," but they are two different things. Understanding the distinction is important for anyone creating content.

Plagiarism is about ethics

Plagiarism is an ethical and academic issue. It is about giving credit where it is due. As legal scholars noted in the University of Chicago Law Review, you plagiarize when you present someone else's ideas or words as your own without attribution.

For instance, if you summarize a unique theory from another writer in your blog post without mentioning them, that is plagiarism. It is probably not illegal, but it is dishonest.

Copyright infringement is about the law

Copyright, on the other hand, is a legal protection. It covers the specific expression of an idea, not the idea itself. Things like articles, books, songs, and artwork are protected by copyright.

The same law review article offers a great example: if you copy and paste an entire chapter of a book into your blog post and credit the author, you are not plagiarizing. But you are infringing on their copyright, which could land you in legal trouble.

Most of the time, AI-generated text is different enough from any one source that it does not cross into copyright infringement. But it can still be considered plagiarism if it recycles existing ideas without adding any new value or giving credit.

Bad practices: The third thing to avoid

There is one more category to think about: content that is of low quality. This includes things like not checking your sources, using outdated info, or publishing thin articles that do not help anyone.

As a publisher, your goal is to avoid all three: copyright infringement (the legal problem), plagiarism (the ethical problem), and bad scholarly practices (the quality problem).

How to ethically use an AI blog writer and avoid AI blog writer plagiarism concerns

So, how do you actually use these tools the right way? You can use AI to create great content without getting into trouble. You just need the right approach and the right tools.

Start with an AI blog writer built for originality

Different AI writers operate differently. Some tools pull from broad internet data for every user, which can sometimes result in content that is similar to existing online material.

An alternative approach is to use a tool designed for originality, such as the eesel AI blog writer. It operates differently by grounding its writing in your company's own knowledge.

• Train it on your own content: Instead of a "black box" of internet data, you can train on internal docs from Confluence, Google Docs, or your website. This makes sure the content aligns with your brand's voice and facts right from the start.
• Add verifiable, human-centric proof: eesel AI can pull real Reddit quotes and relevant YouTube videos directly into the draft. This adds social proof and gets you in the habit of citing real, verifiable sources.
• Create securely: When you are using internal knowledge, you need to know it is secure. eesel AI guarantees that your data remains private and is not used for training external AI models, so your private information stays private.

Always add your own experience (E-E-A-T)

No matter how good your AI is, it should be viewed as an assistant. You are the expert. Google's quality guidelines, known as E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), are all about rewarding content that demonstrates real-world knowledge.

Once your AI gives you a draft, it is your job to go in and make it better. Add your personal stories, unique insights, customer case studies, or data that only you have. This is the type of information an AI cannot generate, and it's what distinguishes your content.

Fact-check everything and verify all your sources

At the end of the day, you are responsible for every single word you publish. The CNET story is a great cautionary tale. The company had to issue major corrections on 41 of its 77 AI-written articles due to factual errors and some plagiarism.

For a deeper dive into the ethical considerations of using AI in content creation, the following video offers valuable insights from an expert perspective, covering the nuances of plagiarism and responsible AI use.

A video from the Filthy Rich Writer YouTube channel discussing the ethical considerations of using AI for copywriting.

Moving past AI blog writer plagiarism concerns with confidence

It is clear that AI blog writer plagiarism concerns are valid, but they are also manageable. The key is to understand the lines between plagiarism, copyright, and low-quality content. When you know what to look out for, avoiding the pitfalls becomes much easier.

An effective and ethical path forward is to combine a smart, context-aware AI tool with your own human expertise. An AI that learns from your company's knowledge can provide a strong starting point for originality compared to tools that only pull from general internet data.

By understanding these principles, you can create high-quality, authoritative content that helps grow your business. Generate your first blog post for free with the eesel AI blog writer and see for yourself what a difference the right tool can make.